Professor of Practice
Director, Software Engineering Program
Department of Computer Science and Engineering
University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Office: 362 Avery Hall
Phone: 402.472.5040
Email: sperson ‘at’ cse.unl.edu
Professor of Practice | |
I have been an Associate Professor of Practice in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln since January 2015. I am also the Director of the undergraduate Software Engineering program. Prior to joining UNL I was a Research Computer Scientist at NASA Langley Research Center where I worked in the Formal Methods group in the Safety-Critical Avionics Systems branch. I have also worked as a software engineer in industry and state government. I recently received the 2020 Holling Family Distinguished Teaching Award in the UNL College of Engineering. I have also received the UNL Parents Association Certificate of Recognition for Contributions to Students Award in 2019 and 2020.
My research interests include software testing and program analysis techniques, especially in the context of evolving software. More recently, I have been focused on software engineering education.
You can view a copy of my full CV here.The UNL undergraduate program in Software Engineering was launched in Fall 2016. It is currently ranked 1st in Intelligent's ranking of the Best Software Engineering Degree Programs of 2022. Our program is ranked 16th in Best Software Engineering Degrees according to College Choice and 25th Best Bachelor's in Software Engineering according to Best Computer Science Schools.
Our program follows a unique Software Engineering First (SE-First) model that teaches fundamental software engineering concepts together with foundational computer science topics and non-technical skills, such as communication and teamwork, in the first two years. In the fourth semester course (SOFT 261), students work in teams on open source projects such as OpenMRS and Pitivi. Students in the program also take two years of our capstone course and complete an internship for credit so they leave the program with a lot of hands-on experience.
Below are some videos created by students in SOFT 261 to help high school students understand what software engineering is and what it is like to study software engineering (these videos were created to satisfy honors contract requirements):
• "Studying Software Engineering" by Jessie Guo:
• Software Engineering Notes I: An Introduction to Software Engineering and Computing (Our first-year text book)
• E. Bütt, S. Person, C. Bohn, "Student-Sponsored Projects in a Capstone Course; Reflections and Lessons Learned" ICSE 2022 Software Engineering and Training track, Pittsburg, PA. (to appear)
• C. Maly, S. Person, L-K. Soh, "SE-First: A New Approach to Software Engineering Education" FIE 2021, Lincoln, NE.
• Teaching Communication Skills in Context: An Experience Report (A talk I gave to our DBER group in Spring 2019)
• Benchmark Portfolio for SOFT 261: Software Engineering IV(Completed as part of the UNL Peer Review of Teaching Project)
• SOFT 261 Software Engineering IV - (Spring only course) 2017 - 2020
• SOFT 161 Software Engineering II - (Spring only course) 2017 - 2019
• SOFT 160 Software Engineering I - (Fall only course) 2016 - 2021
• CSCE425/825 Compiler Construction - Fall 2015
I also supervise internships for software engineering majors every term: (CSCE 495--previously 491)• Java Impact Analysis Framework: Invention Disclosure e-NTR#:1392742578. Released under NOSA open source license.
• C Impact Analysis Framework: Invention Disclosure e-NTR#:1393341390. Released under NOSA open source license.
• Abstract Syntax Tree Observer (ASTro): Released under Apache open source license.
• Bug Hunt: Web Tutorial to Assist Learning of Software Testing in CS1 and CS2.
(Last updated January 2022)