Dan Garcia

Dan Garcia serves as a Teaching Professor in the Electrical Engineering and Computer Science department at the University of California, Berkeley, where he has revolutionized computer science education through inclusive pedagogical approaches. His work centers on dismantling barriers in computing education with a focus on historically marginalized communities.

Garcia pioneered the Beauty and Joy of Computing (BJC) curriculum—a flagship initiative of the CSforAll movement—that achieves unprecedented diversity metrics, including Berkeley's only EECS course sustaining over 50% female enrollment (peaking at 70%). His research integrates educational technology with social impact, manifested through Snap!, a blocks-based programming language enabling accessible computational thinking. Key methodologies include culturally responsive curriculum design, multilingual resource development (including full Spanish translation), and scalable teacher training programs reaching nearly 1,000 educators globally.

His scientific recognition includes:

• ACM Karl V. Karlstrom Outstanding Educator Award (2024) for expanding computing access to underrepresented students
• ACM Distinguished Member status (2012)
• SIGCSE’s most prolific author award (2019)

Garcia’s initiatives demonstrate measurable societal impact: BJC Sparks extends his model to middle schools, while Snap! sustains an international learning community of 500,000+ users across 40+ countries. His collaborative leadership with Brian Harvey and Tiffany Barnes has established sustainable frameworks for educator development and curriculum localization, fundamentally reshaping equitable computer science education infrastructure.