Kevin Lin

Creating effective, equitable, accessible CS education.

Kevin Lin (he/him) is an Assistant Teaching Professor in the Paul G. Allen School of Computer Science & Engineering at the University of Washington. He leads instructional innovation in introductory programming and data structures with a focus on restorying computing education toward more critical, contrapuntal, and justice-oriented social futures. Kevin received his MS in Computer Science from UC Berkeley, where he coordinated the teaching and delivery of very large-scale undergraduate CS courses to over 1,000 students per semester.

2019—: Assistant Teaching Professor
University of Washington
Computer Science & Engineering
kevinl@cs.uw.edu

Education

2019: MS, Computer Science
University of California, Berkeley
2018: BA, Computer Science and Cognitive Science
University of California, Berkeley

Teaching

University of Washington

2019—: Computer Programming II
22sp – 20au – 20sp; Intermediate Data Programming
23sp – 21sp; Data Structures and Algorithms
23wi – 22au – 22wi – 21au – 21su – 21wi – 20wi – 19au; Equitable and Inclusive Computer Science Pedagogy
22au; Designing a More Critical CS Education
21sp – 21wi; Honors Seminar
22sp – 20au

University of California, Berkeley

2016–2018: Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs
fa17 (Head TA) – su17 – fa16 (TA) – sp16 (Tutor); Data Structures
su18 – sp18 (Head TA) – sp17 (Head TA) – su16 (TA); Great Ideas in Computer Architecture
fa18 (Head TA)

Distinctions

2023: Teach Access Faculty Grant.
2022: Designing Empirical Education Research Studies (DEERS) Participant.
2021: Cultural Competence in Computing (3C) Fellow.
2019: EECS Distinguished Student Teaching Award, UC Berkeley.; Teaching Effectiveness Award, UC Berkeley.; Outstanding Graduate Student Instructor Award, UC Berkeley.

Invited Talks

2023: Experiences Teaching Critical Comparative Data Structures and Algorithms. Embedded Ethics Conference: Strategies for Teaching Responsible Computing Within the Computer Science Curriculum.; Experiences Teaching Critical Comparative Data Structures and Algorithms. Northwestern University Tech Ethics Mentors.
2022: Teaching-Track Faculty Panel. CMU School of Computer Science Education Group.; CS Education for the Socially-Just Worlds We Need. Computing Education Research at Davis.; CS Education for the Socially-Just Worlds We Need. CS Diversity Committee Webinar, Simon Fraser University.
2021: CS Education for the Socially-Just Worlds We Need. TechEd Seminar, Princeton University.; Centering Identity and Culture in Critical Computing. Teaching Responsible Computing Summit 2021.; Justice-Centered CS Education. CS Education Seminar, Western Washington University.; What You Wish You Knew About Summer Instruction. Designing Computer Science Education, UC Berkeley.

Publications

Conference Papers

2022: CS Education for the Socially-Just Worlds We Need: The Case for Justice-Centered Approaches to CS in Higher Education. Kevin Lin. Position paper in the ACM Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education (SIGCSE).
2021: Do Abstractions Have Politics? Toward a More Critical Algorithm Analysis. Kevin Lin. Position paper in the IEEE Conference on Research in Equity and Sustained Participation in Engineering, Computing, and Technology (RESPECT).

Conference Abstracts

2023: Equitable Grading Best Practices. Dan Garcia, Maria Camarena, Kevin Lin, and Jill Westerland. Panel in the ACM Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education (SIGCSE).
2022: Approaches for Weaving Responsible Computing into Data Structures and Algorithms Courses. Kathi Fisler, Sorelle Friedler, Kevin Lin, and Suresh Venkatasubramanian. Panel in the ACM Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education (SIGCSE).; Reading Between the Lines: Student Experiences of Resubmission in an Introductory CS Course. Leah Perlmutter, Jayne Everson, Ken Yasuhara, Brett Wortzman, and Kevin Lin. Poster in the ACM Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education (SIGCSE).
2021: Nifty Web Apps: Build a Web App for Any Text-Based Programming Assignment. Kevin Lin, Sumant Guha, Joe Spaniac, and Andy Zheng. Special session in the ACM Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education (SIGCSE).; How Can We Make Office Hours Better? Kevin Lin, Kristin Stephens-Martinez, and Brian Railing. Birds-of-a-feather session in the ACM Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education (SIGCSE).; Strategies for Authentic Assessments of Mastery in CS Courses. Kevin Lin, Lina Battestilli, and Michael Ball. Birds-of-a-feather session in the ACM Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education (SIGCSE).; Implementation of Mastery Grading Toward Rightful Presence. Jayne Everson, Leah Perlmutter, Ken Yasuhara, Kevin Lin, and Brett Wortzman. Poster in the UW Teaching & Learning Symposium.
2020: It Seemed Like a Good Idea at the Time (Hindsight is 2020). Dan Garcia, Jim Huggins, Kevin Lin, Raja Sooriamurthi, Leo Urell Ii, and Ursula Wolz. Panel in the ACM Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education (SIGCSE).; Perspectives on Allyship in Academia. Jamie Payton, Adam Blank, Christian Murphy, Melissa Hovik, Kevin Lin, Angela Kwon, and Lara McConnaughey. Special session in the ACM Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education (SIGCSE).; Transitioning From Peer Instruction to POGIL with Guided Lecture Notes. Kevin Lin. Lightning talk in the ACM Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education (SIGCSE).; How Can We Make Office Hours Better? Kevin Lin and Brian Railing. Birds-of-a-feather session in the ACM Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education (SIGCSE).
2019: Near-Peer Student Mentors: Creating Scalable Learning Experiences in Large Lecture Courses. Kevin Lin. Lightning talk in the Consortium for Computing Sciences in Colleges Southwestern Region (CCSC-SW).; Subgoals, Problem Solving Phases, and Sources of Knowledge: A Complex Mangle. Kevin Lin and David DeLiema. Poster in the ACM Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education (SIGCSE).

Open Educational Resources

2022: Decision Trees for Text Classification in CS2. Kevin Lin. Assignment in EngageCSEdu.

Non-Refereed Publications

2023: Designing and Evaluating a Justice-Centered Intermediate Computing Course. Anna Batra, Iris Zhou, Chongjiu Gao, Sonia Fereidooni, Yanbing Xiao, Suh Young Choi, Kevin Lin. Poster in the UW Undergraduate Research Symposium.
2019: How Help Can Hurt: Understanding Defensive Climate in the Undergraduate CS Classroom. Kevin Lin. Paper prepared for the UC Berkeley EECS Department.; A Berkeley View of Teaching CS at Scale. Kevin Lin. MS technical report. EECS Department, UC Berkeley.; From 40 to 400 to 1,400: Providing Formative Feedback in Large-Scale Courses. Kevin Lin. Article in the GSI Online Library: Teaching Effectiveness Award Essays. Graduate Division, UC Berkeley.

Media

2022: S3xE2: Alternative grading, how? The CS-Ed Podcast.
2021: S3xE1: Alternative grading, why? The CS-Ed Podcast.

Campus Talks

2023: Computing Education Researcher Panel.; Racial Diversity in Tech Speaker Event.
2022: Impact++ @ UW Lightning Talk: Education X Tech.
2021: CS for What and for Whom?
2020: Programming a Better Future.
2019: Applying for Academic Positions and Postdoctoral Appointments.; EECS/CS Life from a Student Perspective.
2018: Introductory CS Courses at UC Berkeley.; EECS/CS Life from a Student Perspective.
2017: How to Learn Computer Science.

Advising

2022: Sonia Fereidooni
2021: Leah Perlmutter; Aleks Jovčić
2020: Nathan Chen
2017: Sarah Jin
Stanford Teacher Education Program (MA, Education)

Service

2023: NCWIT Aspirations in Computing (AiC)
Reviewer; IEEE Conference on Research in Equity and Sustained Participation in Engineering, Computing, and Technology (RESPECT)
Reviewer; ACM Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education (SIGCSE)
Birds-of-a-Feather Junior Co-Chair, Student Research Competition Judge; ACM SIGCSE Special Projects & Travel Grants
Committee Member
2022: NCWIT Aspirations in Computing (AiC)
Reviewer; Communications of the ACM
Reviewer; IEEE Conference on Research in Equity and Sustained Participation in Engineering, Computing, and Technology (RESPECT)
Zoom Chair, Reviewer; ACM Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education (SIGCSE)
Paper Session Chair, Reviewer
2021: IEEE Conference on Research in Equity and Sustained Participation in Engineering, Computing, and Technology (RESPECT)
Reviewer; ACM Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education (SIGCSE)
Paper Session Chair, Reviewer, Poster Judge
2020: The CS-Ed Podcast
Transcript Editor; ACM Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education (SIGCSE)
Paper Session Chair, Reviewer

Teaching Critical Comparative Data Structures and Algorithms