Michael Nowak

Michael Nowak is a Teaching Assistant Professor in the Department of Computer Science at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC). He holds a Ph.D. in Computer Science from Texas A&M University and a B.S. in Neuroscience and Computer Science from Trinity University. His primary focus is on innovative pedagogy for introductory programming courses, particularly leading the development and revision of UIUC's CS 128 course. He maintains an open-source version of this course at learncpp.online.

His research interests include curriculum innovation, programming education at scale, and software engineering pedagogy. He has taught courses such as CS 128 (Intro to Computer Science II) and CSCE 431 (Software Engineering) at UIUC and Texas A&M University. His teaching materials emphasize practical coding exercises and structured learning frameworks.

Notable contributions include the development of interactive courseware, open-source educational resources, and collaborative teaching workshops. His work integrates modern programming practices with scalable educational strategies to enhance student engagement and learning outcomes.