Dana Wortman, PhD

University of Colorado, Colorado Springs

Computer Science Department
1420 Austin Bluffs PKWY

Career
Objective
College
Education
8/04-5/14
8/00-5/02

8/96-5/00

Academic
Experience
8/09-Present

1/07-8/09

Colorado Springs, CO 80933

719-255-5158
dwortman@uccs.edu

To serve as a Tenure-Track Teaching Professor in an institute of higher education within a game

development or computer science program.
University of Maryland, Baltimore County, Baltimore, Maryland
College of Engineering. PhD in Computer Science in May 2014. Dissertation Title:
Visualizing Sequential Patterns in Large Datasets Using Levels of Abstraction.
University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia
School of Engineering and Applied Sciences. Masters of Computer Science (MCS) in May
2002. Masters project adapted educational strategies to creating an active-learning
environment in large Computer Science classes.
University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia
School of Engineering and Applied Sciences. BS in Computer Science in May, 2000
University of Colorado Colorado Springs, Colorado Springs, Colorado
Senior Instructor, Game Design and Development: Fulltime faculty member.
Responsibilities included teaching four courses per semester, advising undergraduate
students, supervising independent studies, and serving on dept./Univ. committees
Introduced gamification into my courses through the introduction of achievements,
experience points, agency and choice
Supervised student teams in the Bachelor of Innovation program
Served as member of Masters Thesis and Project committees
Faculty Advisor for SPLAT (Students Pushing the Limits of Advanced Technology) club.
Faculty Advisor for SWE (Society of Women Engineers)
Faculty Advisor for the Game Developers Association
Engineering and Science representative to PRIDE Committee
Engineering and Science representative to the Non-Tenure Track Faculty Committee
Served on General Education Inclusiveness Committee
Served on the 50th Anniversary Celebration Committee and plan the Alumni Day
activities for the Engineering School
Developed and delivered workshops on game development to middle and high school
students
Developed and delivered workshops on internships, job search, and resumes for University
students
Courses designed and taught:
GDD1200: Intro to Programming (C#)
GDD2100: Game Design for Diversity
GDD2200: Data Structures (C#)
CS2250: Advanced Data Structures in C++
GDD3100: Graphical User Interface Design
GDD3300: Modeling and Simulations
GDD3400: Artificial Intelligence for Games
GDD3600: Developing Serious Games
GDD4000: Game Production
GDD4200: Flash Game Development
GDD4000: Game Story and Narrative
GDD4000: Game Level Design
GDD4000: 3D Game Development
GDD4000: Game Engine Development
GDD4800: Real-time Procedural Graphics
CS1150: Intro to Programming (Java)
CS1450: Data Structures (Java)
CS3020: Advanced OO Design in C#
INOV3100: Innovative Web Design
CS3350: Intro to Game Development
The Art Institute of Washington, Arlington, Virginia
A branch of the Art Institute of Atlanta
Department Chair:
Game Art & Design, Web Design & Interactive Media, and Visual & Game Programming
Developed curriculum, chaired inter-institutional curriculum development committees, and

1/05-1/07

1/06-1/07

8/02-1/05

Summer 2002

College

taught at least one course per year

Developed semi-annual Institutional Effectiveness reports for upcoming COC-SACS
accreditation evaluation
Built Professional Advisory Councils to advise curriculum development by helping us
understand industry needs, partnered with non-profit organizations for student projects
Hired, reviewed and supervised faculty, developed faculty search requirements, scheduled
courses and faculty, and led monthly department meetings
Developed and maintained graduation portfolio requirements, review process and related
documents, reviewed student portfolios throughout program
Supervised independent study projects and internships, advised students
Developed and conducted new student orientation for each department, developed and
conducted academic presentation for Open House for each department, led development
of website for each department
Developed new Visual & Game Programming curriculum
Organized and conducted semi-annual student competitions including sponsorships
Developed and conducted New Faculty Orientation for each department
Co-developed the institutions Academic Advising Handbook to train new faculty
Developed and presented workshop on Differentiated Instruction
Developed and presented workshop on Using Excel for the Classroom
Courses designed and taught:
IMD320: Production Team
GAD450: Careers in the Game Industry
GAD490: Portfolio
IMD480: Portfolio Preparation
IMD490: Portfolio
University of Maryland, Baltimore County, Baltimore, Maryland
Course Coordinator and Lecturer, Computer Science, Part-time faculty member
Responsibilities included teaching and coordinating one course per semester (CMSC 202
Computer Science II).
Developed assignment descriptions for multiple sections (> 400 students), coordinated
laboratories, developed and maintained laboratory materials, and organized teaching
assistants and grader staff.
Prepared and delivered two 75 minute lessons per week and held office hours.
Computer Science and Engineering Advisor, Part-time
Responsibilities included advising underclassmen, new freshman, and transfers,
recommending courses and ensuring that graduation requirements are fulfilled
Frostburg State University, Frostburg, Maryland
Computer Science Instructor: Fulltime faculty member.
Responsibilities included teaching four courses per semester, advising undergraduate
students, supervising independent studies, and serving on departmental committees
Created, organized and supervised a student-volunteer-based tutoring program multiple
nights per week on campus in the Departments Computer lab
Created and organized Microsoft-sponsored programming competition
Created and organized Annual New Majors Night to introduce new students to the
department and the curriculum
Advisor for the newly reactivated Association for Computing Machinery Chapter
Courses designed and taught:
COSC 200/240: Computer Science I
COSC 130: Intro to Programming
COSC 100: Intro to Computer Science
COSC 101: Computer Science 0
COSC 325: Software Engineering
COSC 465/565: Computer Organization
COSC 310: Advanced Data Structures
and Design
Great Mills High School, Great Mills, Maryland
Geometry Teacher: Taught a 2.5 week summer-school course in Geometry
University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia
Graduate Teaching Assistant: GTA for CS101: An Introduction to Programming, CS333:

9/00-5/02
9/99-5/00

Research
Experience
UMBC

UVA

Professional
Experience
Summer 2004
June 2003
Fall 2001Spring 2002
Fall 2001Spring 2002

Summer 2001

Summer 2000
Fall 1999

Computer Architecture. Supervise Laboratory instruction, grade laboratory work and

homework assignments, and hold office hours.
Undergraduate Teaching Assistant: TA for CS101: An Introduction to Programming. Assist in
Laboratory instruction and hold office hours.
University of Maryland, Baltimore County, Baltimore, Maryland
Dissertation: Visualizing Sequential Patterns in Large Datasets Using Levels of Abstraction
developed a new visualization technique for understanding sequential patterns over time.
Primary application was understanding patterns in student enrollments and grades throughout
their program to improve retention.
Research Interests: Visualization, Education, and Haptics
Visualization using graphics to visualize event-based data revealing trends and other
patterns that are previously unknown to the user
Education using visualization to track the success of academic policies within the
department and student retention particular interest in race and gender patterns
Haptics research involves developing a Haptic application to use in fine-motor skill
training, focus on early-education handwriting
University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia
Research Interests: Computer Graphics and Education
Differentiated Instruction in Large Classes (Masters project) research involved
developing materials for use in large classes including laboratories, assignments, quizzes,
that incorporated differentiated techniques to make the material more accessible to
students of different abilities and interests
SWEECom (Software Engineering Educators Community) research involved developing
and populating website with educational materials and references
Monticello Project research involved adapting a 3-D imaging program called QSplat to
use scanned data from Thomas Jeffersons Monticello
CS101 Tutorial (Undergraduate Thesis) research involved developing web-based content
that allowed students to interact with and visualize data and algorithms
NASA - Dryden Flight Research Center, Edwards, California
NASA Faculty Fellowship Program (NFFP): Worked with the Office of Academic Investments
at Dryden Flight Research Center developing a compendium of current Research Projects
created to develop partnerships with University Faculty
NSF - National Science Foundation, Washington, D.C.
Panel Reviewer for CCLI (Course, Curriculum, and Laboratory Improvement): Served as a
panel reviewer for grant proposals
Microsoft Corporation, Redmond, Washington
Alpha/Beta PC Game Tester: Remotely test personal computer games in alpha or beta release.
Report games using internal Microsoft bug-reporting tool. Tested Age of Mythology, Bicycle
Card Games, and others.
Volt Temporary Agency (for Microsoft Corporation), Charlottesville, Virginia
Student Consultant Representing Microsoft: Advance Microsoft technologies throughout the
undergrad and graduate curriculum, create and manage a Microsoft Users Group (MUG), work
with undergraduate and graduate students to provide funding for student projects, and enhance
the understanding of Microsoft technologies through bi-weekly presentations.
Microsoft Corporation, Redmond, Washington
Software Design Engineer in Test, Visual C++ Compiler: Work involved enhancing the current
compiler testing system to include a measurement for code coverage and adding test cases to
bring the current test suite toward 100% line coverage.
The Motley Fool, Alexandria, Virginia
Intern: Designed and developed a Visual Basic module to verify MIME compliance of outgoing
email. Tested internal software for mass-email system.
GE Fanuc Automation, Charlottesville, Virginia
Intern: Worked within MS Access (backend Oracle Database) developing queries for general
company use. Occasionally performed system maintenance tasks involving DB recovery.

Summer 1999

Publications
(chronological order)

Professional
Membership

Conferences

Honors
and Awards

Computer
Skills

General
Studies

Digital System Resources, Fairfax, Virginia

Intern: Implemented and 100% line-coverage tested a system boot module. The process was
originally designed and implemented in C under UNIX and ported to VxWorks.
T. E. Boult, A. T. Chamillard, R. Lewis, N. Polok, G. Stock, D. Wortman. Innovations in
University Education in Innovation: Moving Beyond the B.S. Journal of Innovation Science,
Vol 1, Num. 4, pp 167-178, Feb. 2010
Wortman, D. and Rheingans, P. 2007. Visualizing trends in student performance across
computer science courses. In Proceedings of the 38th SIGCSE Technical Symposium on
Computer Science Education (Covington, Kentucky, USA, March 07 - 11, 2007). SIGCSE 07.
ACM, New York, NY, 430-434.
Wortman, Dana T. (2002, July). Review of Learning Policy: When State Education
Reform Works (Cohen, D. and Hill, H.). American School Board Journal.
ACM Association for Computing Machinery
IEEE Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
IGDA International Game Developers Association
SIGGRAPH Special Interest Group on Graphics
SIGCSE Special Interest Group on Computer Science Education
Theta Tau National Professional Engineering Fraternity: Past Grand Scribe, Past
Atlantic Regional Director, Past Technology Committee Chairperson
Presenter at SIGCSE Special Interest Group on Computer Science Education 2007
GDC Game Developers Conference 2007 and 2008
INFOVIS Information Visualization 2006
SIGGRAPH Special Interest Group on Graphics 2000, 2001, 2007, and 2008
Deans List [Undergraduate]
Theta Tau, Natl Profl Engineering Fraternity: Vice Regent, Treasurer, Pledge Trainer
Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) [local chapter]: Treasurer
First Year Players: Vocal Director--Guys and Dolls; Stage ManagerFame
Microsoft Users Group (MsUG): President and Founder
Programming: C/C++, C#, Java, JavaScript, ActionScript, Python, Lua, Visual Basic,
QBasic, VHDL, Assembly, HTML, Scheme, Perl, PHP, LISP, LSL: Linden Second Life
Programming Environments: MS Visual Studio, Eclipse, Netbeans, Borland, Jbuilder,
BlueJ, Forte (Java), UNIX, Linux
Operating Systems: Windows 9X/NT/2K/XP/Vista/7, MS-DOS, UNIX, VxWorks, Linux
Building Complex Software Systems
Computer Organization and Architecture
Real-time Systems
Introduction to Computer Graphics
Animation
Advanced Computer Graphics
Algorithms
Database Design and Architecture
Operating Systems
Networking Design
Programming Languages
Distributed Operating Systems
Computational Theory
Cryptology
Game Theory
Data Visualization
Artificial Intelligence
Real-time Shading
Research Methods