Neil T. Heffernan (born June 1970 in

Worcester, Massachusetts Worcester ( , ) is a city and county seat of Worcester County, Massachusetts, United States. Named after Worcester, England, the city's population was 206,518 at the 2020 census, making it the second- most populous city in New England after ...

) is a professor of

computer science Computer science is the study of computation, automation, and information. Computer science spans theoretical disciplines (such as algorithms, theory of computation, information theory, and automation) to practical disciplines (includin ...

Worcester Polytechnic Institute '' , mottoeng = "Theory and Practice" , established = , former_name = Worcester County Free Institute of Industrial Science (1865-1886) , type = Private research university , endow ...

. He is known for his role in the development of the ASSISTments online learning tool and app, which assists students with homework and classwork while helping teachers assess where to focus instructional time in mathematics, and is used by over 50,000 students a year in the US. His work gained prominence when a ''New York Times Magazine'' story by Annie Murphy Paul featured ASSISTments and Heffernan's research with the tool.

Early life and education

Heffernan obtained a bachelor's degree in

History History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the History of writing#Inventions of writing, invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbr ...

and

Computer Science Computer science is the study of computation, automation, and information. Computer science spans theoretical disciplines (such as algorithms, theory of computation, information theory, and automation) to practical disciplines (includin ...

at Amherst College, and a doctorate in

from

Carnegie Mellon University Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) is a private research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. One of its predecessors was established in 1900 by Andrew Carnegie as the Carnegie Technical Schools; it became the Carnegie Institute of Technology ...

. His doctoral advisers were

Kenneth Koedinger Kenneth R. Koedinger (born 1962 in Wisconsin) is a professor of human–computer interaction and psychology at Carnegie Mellon University. He is the founding and current director of the Pittsburgh Science of Learning Center. He is widely known fo ...

and John Robert Anderson.

Career

Following his doctoral studies, Heffernan worked as Assistant Professor and then Associate Professor at

, establishing the

Learning Sciences Learning sciences (LS) is an interdisciplinary field that works to further scientific, humanistic, and critical theoretical understanding of learning as well as to engage in the design and implementation of learning innovations, and the improve ...

research group in the Computer Science Department at WPI and the Learning Sciences and Technology graduate program at WPI.

References

External links

Heffernan's personal page at Worcester PolytechnicASSISTments app
{{DEFAULTSORT:Heffernan, Neil T. 1970 births Living people American computer scientists Carnegie Mellon University alumni Worcester Polytechnic Institute faculty Human-Computer Interaction Institute faculty

Early life and education

Career

See also

References

External links