Shriram Krishnamurthi

About

Shriram Krishnamurthi is a Professor of Computer Science at Brown University whose research vision centers on the essential role of abstractions in computing. He is fascinated by the beauty and complexity of abstractions and is deeply interested in how people can effectively learn them. Since 2016, his work has increasingly incorporated human-factors ideas, cognitive science, and education research into technical work, reflecting a broad view of education that extends beyond traditional teaching to include any tool that produces output as part of the education process. His research spans programming languages and formal methods, computing education, and cognitive engineering, conducted across three groups at Brown University. Krishnamurthi was primarily trained in programming languages but has expanded his expertise to include software engineering, formal methods, human-computer interaction, security, and networking. He has contributed to several innovative software systems such as JavaScript tools, Flowlog, Racket, WeScheme, Margrave, Flapjax, FrTime, Continue, FASTLINK, and (Per)Mission. Currently, his work focuses on projects like Pyret, Forge, the SMoL Tutor, and the LTL Tutor. His research is closely connected to his passion for teaching, particularly in undergraduate courses like the Accelerated Introduction to Computer Science and Programming Languages, where he aims to help students experience the excitement of learning profound and beautiful topics. Beyond Brown,…

Research topics

• Computer Science
• Psychology
• Mathematics education
• Engineering
• Pedagogy
• Mathematics

Selected publications

• Data-centricity

  Communications of the ACM · 2020 · 24 citations

  1st authorCorresponding

  Rethinking the content of introductory computing around a data-centric approach to better engage and support a diversity of students.

  DOI

• Evolving a K-12 Curriculum for Integrating Computer Science into Mathematics

  2021 · 16 citations

  Integrating computing into other subjects promises to address many challenges to offering standalone CS courses in K-12 contexts. Integrated curricula must be designed carefully, however, to both meet learning objectives of the host discipline and to gain traction with teachers. We describe the multi-year evolution of Bootstrap, a curriculum for integrating computing into middle- and high-school mathematics. We discuss the initial design and the various modifications we have made over the years…

  PublisherDOI

• Generating Programs Trivially: Student Use of Large Language Models

  2023-11-21 · 15 citations

  articleSenior author

  Educators have been concerned about the capability of large language models to automatically generate programs in response to textual prompts. However, little is known about whether and how students actually use these tools.

  PublisherDOI

• Identifying and Correcting Programming Language Behavior Misconceptions

  Proceedings of the ACM on Programming Languages · 2024-04-29 · 13 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  Misconceptions about core linguistic concepts like mutable variables, mutable compound data, and their interaction with scope and higher-order functions seem to be widespread. But how do we detect them, given that experts have blind spots and may not realize the myriad ways in which students can misunderstand programs? Furthermore, once identified, what can we do to correct them? In this paper, we present a curated list of misconceptions, and an instrument to detect them. These are distilled fro…

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Iterative Student Program Planning using Transformer-Driven Feedback

  2024-07-03 · 11 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  Problem planning is a fundamental programming skill, and aids students in decomposing tasks into manageable subtasks. While feedback on plans is beneficial for beginners, providing this in a scalable and timely way is an enormous challenge in large courses.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

Recent grants

• TWC: Small: Extensible Web Browsers and User Privacy

  NSF · $375k · 2012–2015

• SHF: Medium: Collaborative Research: Semantics Engineering for Scripting Languages

  NSF · $472k · 2011–2015

• Exploring Transfer Between Computing and Algebra and Its Effects on Mathematics Pedagogy and Self-efficacy in Computing Teachers

  NSF · $1.5M · 2015–2020

Frequent coauthors

• Kathi Fisler

  Providence College

  143 shared

• Matthias Felleisen

  101 shared

• Robert Bruce Findler

  Northwestern University

  83 shared

• Matthew Flatt

  70 shared

• Joe Gibbs Politz

  University of California, San Diego

  63 shared

• Tim Nelson

  Providence College

  63 shared

• Arjun Guha

  Northeastern University

  55 shared

• Benjamin S. Lerner

  Northeastern University

  34 shared

Labs

• PLTPI

  Programming Languages and Formal Methods

Awards & honors

• SIGPLAN's Robin Milner Young Researcher Award
• SIGSOFT's Influential Educator Award
• SIGPLAN's Software Award
• Brown's Henry Merritt Wriston Fellowship for distinguished c…
• honorary doctorate from the Università della Svizzera Italia…

Similar researchers at Brown University

• Michael L. Littmanh-83
• Maurice P Herlihyh-72
• Roberto Tamassiah-69