Josh Weese | Teaching Assistant Professor

Kevin and Jacquie Elmore - Carl and Mary Ice Cornerstone Teaching Scholar

Ph.D. – 2017, Kansas State University
Computer Science
M.S. – 2013, Kansas State University
Computer Science
B.S. – 2011, Kansas State Polytechnic
Computer Systems Technology

Contact information

2214 Engineering Hall
785-532-7929
weeser@k-state.edu
Personal Website

Professional experience

Josh Weese received a bachelor’s degree from K-State Polytechnic in 2011. Weese has worked for Philips Lighting as a software engineer, Kasa Industrial Controls Inc. as an IT assistant and at the Cerner Corporation as a systems engineer intern. He then worked as a teaching and research assistant at K-State, and completed a master’s degree in 2011 and a doctorate in 2017.

Research

Weese has expertise in data science, software engineering, web technologies, computer science education research, and primary and secondary outreach programs. He has been a lead developer for the Data Explorer, a data analytics and visualization portal hosted by PhysPort by the AAPT. The portal enables physics faculty to upload assessment data to receive instant feedback including expert recommendations and customized visualizations.

His main area of focus is computer science education, particularly creating and developing curriculum and assessments for computational thinking for K-12. He is highly active in various outreach programs including Kansas STARBASE, Girl Scouts of the USA and USD 383 summer STEM camp. Weese has also participated in research ifor machine learning applications including polyphonic signal detection, parody detection, and text extraction.

Research keywords

computer science education, computational thinking, PK-12 outreach, self-efficacy, education standards, assessment

Academic highlights

Weese has published 11 refereed conference papers and two book chapters, and has presented multiple invited talks and workshops. He won second place in the 2014 Kansas State Research Forum in the Engineering, Math and Physical Sciences poster session and placed first in his group at the 2016 Kansas State Research and the State. He has served as a reviewer for four different conferences and multiple journals. Weese has been a highly active member in advocating for computer science education in Kansas including PK-12 model standards in 2019. Weese has developed, organized and led activities for several outreach programs for K-12 impacting well more than 4,000 students. These programs include GROW, EXCITE, USD 383 STEM Institute, Kansas STARBASE, Insight GK-12 and the Hour of Code. He has also developed and taught many other courses that include programming fundamentals, data structures, databases and computer science ethics. He is the current faculty mentor for the K-State Student Association for Computing Machinery chapter and serves as one of the mentors for the Diversity in Computing group in the CS department. Weese received the Teaching Excellence Award in the department of computer science in 2020 and was also named as a Kevin and Jacquie Elmore – Carl and Mary Ice Teaching Scholar the same year.