Expertise:
Software Engineering Processes | Geographic Computing | AI and technology for society
During the Spring 2025 semester, I’m teaching Ethics in Computer Engineering and Object-Oriented Design and Programming.
I was born early on a January morning in frigid Wisconsin, but grew up in Massachusetts. I was already reading by the time I was four years old— and I’ve never stopped! I was one of those kids who’d rather spend all day immersed in a book than go play.
My parents actively encouraged my literary, intellectual and scholastic pursuits. In particular, my dad introduced me to science. I was only seven when he showed me how to use a microscope to view protozoa in pond water. In junior high I won first place on a televised science quiz show. I loved all my school subjects, though, from math to art. Thus it was quite difficult for me to figure out my career direction.
In undergraduate school, I shifted from biology to medicine to psychology, with significant exposure to chemistry and physics, computer science and math along the way. However, I also studied ancient Greek, Russian literature, Shakespeare and modern dance. I attended graduate school at Carnegie Mellon University, using computer models to validate pyschological theories. After receiving my Ph.D., I spent two years doing research at a famous “think tank” in southern California, but I found myself frustrated producing nothing but research papers. Moving back to the east coast of the U.S., I landed a job as a software engineer. Almost immediately, I felt a new level of satisfaction. Creating software appeared to fit really well with my intellect and personality.
In the mid-nineteen eighties, my husband and I were hired to teach remote sensing image processing in Thailand. After two years at the Asian Institute of Technology we had to return to the U.S., but we were hooked on Asia. We came back to Thailand in 2003 to teach computer engineering at King Mongkut’s University of Technology Thonburi. Over my eighteen years at KMUTT, I introduced hundreds of students to programming and data structures, as well as creating courses in software engineering, object-oriented analysis and design and geographic computing.
I moved to CMKL University in 2021, eager to help shape its new undergraduate program in AI and computer engineering. With my responsibilities for teaching, leading the A1CE software development effort and chairing the AiCE curriculum committee, I’ve never worked so hard. However, I believe that my varied experiences in research, industry and academia have given me a unique combination of skills that I can apply to help my students flourish.
My Passions: I have decidedly practical rather than a theoretical bent. I want my work to solve real problems and to contribute to society. In particular, I’m passionate about using computer technology to improve the quality of life for individuals in less-developed countries or marginalized communities. One way to do this is by applying geospatial information processing to map, monitor and improve the environment.
I went to public high school in the U.S., where I graduated first in my class. I have a B.A. and M.A. from Brown University and an M.S. and Ph.D. from Carnegie-Mellon University.
