Jeffrey Popyack, PhD
Professor Emeritus of Computer Science
Popyack is an expert in computer science education. He served as the head for undergraduate affairs in the Department of Computer Science at Drexel and is responsible for creating the undergraduate curriculums for both computer science and artificial intelligence tracks in the College of Computing & Informatics and is the advisor for many of the college’s K-12 computer science education outreach initiatives. Popyack has commented in stories related to Philadelphia’s efforts to grow the field and improve computer science and technology educational opportunities in grade school.
As a former director of the Pennsylvania Governor’s School for Information, Science and Technology, Popyack has been involved in shaping the way computer and information science has been taught in the state for more than a decade. He is a mentor in Drexel’s Robot Springboard academy, where local K-12 students learn about robotics and coding; and an advisor for the DUCSTeach group, which connects undergraduates with local middle school classes interested in computer science. As director of Drexel's REThink CS program he runs a summer institute for local high school teachers and two-year college faculty who are interested in building more computer science into their courses. Popyack also served as a member of the team that developed the nation's first advanced placement course in computer science, which launched in the 2016-17 school year.