Hi, I am a PhD candidate in Computing and Information Sciences at Rochester Institute of Technology, working with Dr. Daqing Hou. My work sits at the intersection of computing education and empirical software engineering, with a focus on authentic project-based learning, AI-assisted computing education, and responsible uses of large language models in software engineering education.
Research
I develop adoption-ready project-based learning (PjBL) resources and study how students and instructors use them in real computing courses. My doctoral work includes FORAP, an expert-validated framework for organizing reusable and adaptable PjBL projects, and a portfolio of 14 NSF-funded computing projects adopted at seven U.S. and Canadian universities. I also study how LLMs can support project scaffolding, assessment, and software engineering workflows without replacing students' individual reasoning.
- Adoption-ready PjBL: project design, technical support, faculty adoption, and reusable project packages
- Assessment of higher-order thinking through transfer-oriented design problems and learner profiling
- Applied LLMs: prompt engineering, RAG, fine-tuning, agents, and human-in-the-loop educational tools
- Empirical software engineering for privacy/log analysis, bug-report decomposition, and AI-assisted workflows
News
- [08/2026]: Service - Peer Reviewer for 5 ACM SIGCSE Technical Symposium 2027 papers.
- [07/10/2026]: Paper accepted - IEEE FIE 2026: “Adoption-Ready Project-Based Learning for Computing Education: The FORAP Framework and a Multi-Scale Project Portfolio.”
- [06/23/2026]: Paper accepted - ACM SIGCSE-V Global Computing Education Conference 2026: “LLM-Generated Design Problems for Assessing Higher-Order Thinking in Project-Based Learning.”
- [05/2026]: Service - Peer Reviewer for 2 ACM SIGCSE-V Global Computing Education Conference 2026 papers.
- [04/2026]: Paper accepted - EASE 2026: “Do Privacy Policies Match with the Logs? An Empirical Study of Privacy Disclosure in Android Application Logs.”
- [04/2026]: Service - Peer Reviewer for 3 IEEE FIE 2026 papers.
- [09/2025]: Poster presentation - RIT Fram Signature Exhibition: Transforming the University Experience with AI.
- [08/2025]: Program Committee Member and Reviewer - ACM SIGCSE Technical Symposium 2026.
- [04/2025]: Journal article accepted - ACM TOCE 2025: “Systematic Literature Review on Project-Based Learning in Computing Education.”
- [03/2025]: Published preprint - “An Empirical Study on the Capability of LLMs in Decomposing Bug Reports” (arXiv).
- [03/2025]: Paper accepted - IEEE FIE 2025: “Factors Impacting Faculty Adoption of Project-Based Learning in Computing Education: a Survey.”
- [02/2025]: Service - Peer Reviewer for 7 IEEE FIE 2025 papers.
- [11/2024]: Presented two papers at IEEE FIE 2023.
- [08/2024]: Transferred to RIT to continue Ph.D.
- [05/2024]: Graduated M.S. in ECE (Software Engineering), Clarkson University (CGPA 4.0/4.0).
- [04/2024]: Two papers accepted at IEEE FIE 2024
- [02/2024]: Service - Peer Reviewer for 3 IEEE FIE 2024 papers.
- [10/2023]: Presented two papers at IEEE FIE 2023.
- [08/2023]: Best Presentation Award - Clarkson University Research and Project Showcase (RAPS).
- [08/2023]: Poster and Paper Presentation - Clarkson University Research and Project Showcase (RAPS).
- [03/2023]: Two papers accepted at IEEE FIE 2023
- [01/2022]: Awarded Graduate Research Assistantship (GRA, 2022–2026).
- [01/2022]: Began M.S. & Ph.D. in ECE (Software Engineering) at Clarkson University.
- [12/2021]: Completed role - Software Engineer, Legalfit LLC.
- [04/2021]: Joined Legalfit LLC as Software Engineer (Remote).
- [10/2020]: Michael Taiwo Scholarship (MT Scholarship) awarded.
- [06/2020]: Joined TTF Ltd. as Software Engineer;
- [11/2019]: Graduated B.Tech. (First Class Honors) - FUT Minna.
- [07/2018]: Began Internship - DiceBox Innovation Hub, Kano, Nigeria.
- [04/2018]: Began IT Internship - IHS Towers, Kano State, Nigeria.
- [10/2014]: Began B.Tech. at FUT Minna; awarded Shell SPDC Scholarship (2014–2019).
- [01/2014]: LearnAfrica NECO Excellence Award - Ranked 2nd in Jigawa State on NECO.
- [01/2008]: National Mathematics Competition - Selected as a National Level Finalist (Nigeria).
Education
Jan 2022 – Dec 2026
Ph.D. in Computing and Information Science
Jan 2022 – May 2024
M.S. in Electrical and Computer Engineering (Software Engineering)
Oct 2014 – Nov 2019
B.Tech. in Information Technology
Experience
Jan 2022 – Present
Research Assistant
- Designed and deployed 14 NSF-funded project-based learning projects in software engineering, AI, and cybersecurity, adopted at seven U.S. and Canadian universities and impacting thousands of students.
- Developed FORAP, an expert-validated framework for organizing reusable and adaptable computing projects, and led studies of project design, student support, faculty adoption, and assessment.
- Built RAG-based and fine-tuned LLM assistants with agentic workflows and API integrations for project scaffolding, student support, and grading rubric generation.
- Conducted empirical software engineering research on Android application logs, privacy disclosures, continuous integration, and LLM-based bug report decomposition.
- Configured and maintained a 20-node Red Hat OpenHPC cluster (640 cores) with Slurm, OpenMPI, and Prometheus/Grafana monitoring.
Apr 2021 – Dec 2021
Software Engineer
- Developed and optimized CMS features for law firm websites, helping pages meet Google Core Web Vitals thresholds for LCP, INP, and CLS using Django, Vue.js, PostgreSQL, and AWS.
- Implemented six responsive frontend templates from Adobe XD designs using Vue.js, Jinja, HTML, CSS, and JavaScript.
Jun 2020 – Apr 2021
Software Engineer
- Built a COVID-19 registration portal for Lagos State that scaled to more than 200,000 daily users using Laravel, PHP, and MySQL.
- Built an end-to-end HR management system adopted by Sterling Bank using Java, Spring, and MySQL.
- Designed an online ordering system for Nuli Lounge with administrative order management using CodeIgniter and MySQL.
Jul 2018 – May 2020
Software Engineer Intern
- Developed and deployed a biometric attendance system for two local colleges using Java, JavaFX, MySQL, and the Tabasna SDK.
- Built an Android POS and inventory system with QR scanning, deployed across five local stores using Kotlin.
Apr 2018 – Jul 2018
IT Intern
- Developed an Android site-survey application with offline data capture and synchronization to streamline field reporting for site managers.
- Provided IT support for system maintenance, software updates, data collection, and internal technical operations.
Skills
Languages
Python, Java, C++, PHP, JavaScript, Bash, SQL, HTML/CSS
AI / ML & LLMs
PyTorch, Hugging Face Transformers, LangChain, LangGraph, RAG, PEFT, prompt
engineering, LLM agents, embeddings
Backend / Web
Flask, Django, Spring Boot, Laravel, REST APIs, React, Vue, Tailwind, Jinja2
Cloud / Data
AWS, Google Cloud Platform, Docker, Git, CI/CD, data pipelines, PostgreSQL, MySQL
HPC
CUDA, OpenMPI, Slurm, Red Hat OpenHPC