My name is Hongxuan Chen, and I am a fourth year PhD student in Computer Science at University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC). I am passionate about CS education, and my research focuses on how students learn discrete mathematics and algorithm design. I am co-advised by Dr. Geoffrey Herman and Dr. Jeff Erickson.
Here is my cv (last updated: April 2025) and Google Scholar profile.
J Liu, S Poulsen, E Goodwin, H Chen, G Williams, Y Gertner, D Franklin
ACM Transactions on Computing Education (TOCE)
Earlier version presented as a poster at 2024 SIGCSE TS
H Chen, K Braught, GL Herman, J Erickson
2025 ACM Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education (SIGCSE TS)
S Poulsen, H Chen, Y Gertner, B Cosman, M West, GL Herman
2025 ACM Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education (SIGCSE TS)
H Chen, A Li, G Challen, K Cunningham
2024 ACM Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education (SIGCSE TS)
Invited talk at the Computing Education Seminar at UC Davis (Remote, Oct 2024)
S Poulsen, Y Gertner, H Chen, B Cosman, M West, GL Herman
2024 ACM Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education (SIGCSE TS)
H Chen, MM Fong, GL Herman, M Silva
2023 IEEE Frontiers in Education Conference (FIE)
H Chen, M West, S Hilgenfeldt, M Silva
2023 ACM Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education (SIGCSE TS)
MM Fong, L Butler, H Chen, GL Herman
2022 IEEE Frontiers in Education Conference (FIE)
M Fong, H Chen, L Butler, G Herman
2022 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition
MS Mahmood, H Chen, M Fong, G Herman
2022 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition
H Chen, K Braught, GL Herman, J Erickson
2025 ACM Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education (SIGCSE TS)
H Chen, A Li, G Challen, K Cunningham
2024 ACM Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education (SIGCSE TS)
Invited talk at the Computing Education Seminar at UC Davis (Remote, Oct 2024)
H Chen, MM Fong, GL Herman, M Silva
2023 IEEE Frontiers in Education Conference (FIE)
H Chen, M West, S Hilgenfeldt, M Silva
2023 ACM Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education (SIGCSE TS)
I am committed to advancing computer science education and aspire to pursue a career as a teaching professor.
In Spring 2024, I served as a co-instructor for CS 233: Computer Architecture at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, in collaboration with Morgan Fong and under the guidance of Dr. Geoffrey Herman. Together, we were responsible for all instructional and administrative aspects of the course, which enrolled approximately 280 students. Student performance was comparable to, or exceeded, that of previous offerings. This experience provided valuable opportunities to further develop my skills in course design, classroom management, instructional communication, and student engagement.
My prior teaching experience includes serving as a graduate teaching assistant for CS 233 and CS 173: Discrete Structures, as well as an undergraduate course assistant for CS 125: Intro to CS (now CS 124), CS 233, and CS 374: Intro to Algorithms and Models of Computation.
My interest in computer science education began in Summer 2020, when I worked as a teaching assistant for Girls Who Code. That formative experience played a key role in shaping my long-term goal of contributing to the field through both teaching and research.