Authoring Team

Rajeevan Amirtharajah is an Associate Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of California, Davis. He received his B.S. in Electrical Science and Engineering, and the M.Eng. and Ph.D. degrees in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1994, 1994, and 1999, respectively. His research focuses on low-power mixed-signal integrated circuit design, power electronics, energy harvesting, and sensor interfaces. He has published more than 60 research papers and holds 23 U.S. patents.

Chris Chan is a Mathematics Content Developer at zyBooks. He earned a B.S. in Mathematics (2008) at Dalhousie University in Canada and an M.A. in Mathematics at San Francisco State University (2011). As part of the National Science Foundation Graduate Fellows in K-12 Education, he co-developed and taught mathematics classes and led weekly Math Circle sessions at Mission High School in San Francisco. He worked as a mathematics lecturer at Saint Mary’s College of California and as an adjunct mathematics instructor at Evergreen Valley College.

Alex Edgcomb is a senior Software Engineer at zyBooks and Research Specialist at the University of California, Riverside. He earned a B.S. (2008), M.S. (2011), and Ph.D. (2014) in Computer Science at the University of California, Riverside. He has published more than 25 research papers, including two best papers at the American Society for Engineering Education. His dissertation research focused on assistive monitoring of the elderly in an at-home environment. His post-doctoral research focuses on improving STEM education and student retention. Dr. Edgcomb served as a university lecturer in computer science, and continues to teach an all-online, asynchronous course via StraighterLine.

Tony Givargis is a Professor of Computer Science and Associate Dean in the School of Information and Computer Sciences at the University of California, Irvine. He received his B.S. and Ph.D. in Computer Science from the University of California, Riverside in 1997 and 2001, respectively. He conducts research in the area of embedded systems with an emphasis on embedded and system software and has authored over 90 peer reviewed papers. He is a named inventor on 11 U.S. patents and has co-authored two popular textbooks on embedded system design. Professor Givargis has received numerous teaching, service, and research awards, including the Frederick Emmons Terman Award, presented annually to an outstanding young electrical engineering educator by the Electrical and Computer Engineering Division of the American Society for Engineering Education.

Sandy Irani is a Professor of Computer Science at the University of California, Irvine. She received her B.S.E. in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from Princeton University in 1986 and her Ph.D. in Computer Science from the University of California, Berkeley in 1991. Her research area in theoretical computer science has focused on applied algorithms for resource allocation in computer systems. She has also worked in quantum computation. She has been teaching discrete mathematics to students in computer science for over 20 years and has won numerous teaching awards.

André Knoesen is a Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of California, Davis. He received a B.S. in Electronic Engineering from the University of Pretoria, South Africa in 1980, and an M.S. and Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from Georgia Institute of Technology in 1982 and 1987, respectively. He is a Fellow of the Optical Society of America. He performs research in biosensors, materials, and their applications in electronic and optoelectronic sensor systems. He has published more than 100 research papers and holds 2 U.S. patents.

Matthew Liberatore is a Professor of Chemical Engineering at the University of Toledo, following 10 years at the Colorado School of Mines. He earned a B.S. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Illinois at Chicago and M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Chemical Engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. His current research involves the rheology of complex fluids and materials. His engineering education interests include using YouTube videos to create engineering problems and developing interactive textbooks. He has published over 75 papers and has won awards for teaching and research.

Adrian Lizarraga is a software engineer at zyBooks and a Ph.D. graduate in the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department at the University of Arizona. He received his B.S. in Electrical Engineering from the University of Arizona in 2010. His current research focuses on runtime optimization of embedded systems and data-adaptable embedded systems. He is a recipient of the NSF Bridge to Doctorate Grant and has published 4 papers.

Roman Lysecky is an Associate Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Arizona. He received his B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. in Computer Science from the University of California, Riverside in 1999, 2000, and 2005, respectively. His research focuses on runtime optimization of embedded systems, embedded system security, non-intrusive in-situ observation of hardware and software, and data-adaptable embedded systems. He has published more than 70 research papers, holds one U.S. patent, won numerous best paper awards, and received multiple teaching awards. He is an authoring co-lead at zyBooks.

Susan Lysecky is the Director of Content at zyBooks. She received her Ph.D. and MS degrees in Computer Science from the University of California, Riverside in 2006 and 2003 respectively. She was previously an Assistant Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Arizona. She has taught courses on digital design, computer-aided logic design, microprocessor organization, and usability. Dr. Lysecky also has experience in developing and deploying engineering education technologies and curricula targeted towards resource-constrained middle schools. She has published numerous research papers, including a Spotlight Paper in the IEEE Transactions on Learning Technologies.

Bailey Miller is a software engineer at zyBooks and previously worked at Space Exploration Technologies Corporation (SpaceX). He received his B.S. in Computer Engineering, and his M.S and Ph.D. in Computer Science, from the University of California, Riverside in 2009, 2011, and 2014, respectively. His dissertation research focused on embedded systems design and novel highly-parallel many-core computer architectures. He has published more than 10 research papers, and served as a university lecturer in computer science.

Nikitha Sambamurthy is an Engineering Content Developer at zyBooks. She earned a B.S. in Electrical Engineering and a Ph.D. in Engineering Education from Purdue University. Her research centers around the role of technology in engineering courses to assist student learning, as well as tools to provide pedagogical feedback to instructors. Her dissertation focused on the role of visible and invisible diversity traits in the hiring of engineers.

Frank Vahid is a Professor of Computer Science and Engineering at the University of California, Riverside. He received a B.S. in Computer Engineering from the University of Illinois in 1988, and an M.S. and Ph.D. in Computer Science from the University of California, Irvine in 1990 and 1994, respectively, where he was an SRC Fellow. He conducts research in embedded systems software and hardware design, and engineering education. In addition to about 170 research papers and 3 U.S. patents, he has co-authored various books with major publishers, received various teaching awards, and is a co-founder and authoring co-lead at zyBooks.

Nkenge Wheatland is an Engineering Content Developer at zyBooks. She earned a B.S in Computer Science at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC) and an M.S. and Ph.D. in Computer Science at the University of California, Riverside (UCR). Her dissertation topic focused on gesture synthesis/animation for 3D communicative characters with an emphasis on American Sign Language synthesis. While at UCR, she was a lecturer for multiple undergraduate computer science courses and developed two new courses in computer graphics and animation that were co-taught with a member of the Art department.

Joel Berrier Assistant Professor, Dept. of Physics and Astronomy / University of Nebraska, Kearny

Stefan Brandle Professor of Computer Science and Engineering / Taylor University

Tim Cherney M.S. Computer Science / University of California, Riverside

Mike Curtis Math lecturer / University of California, Riverside

Jonathan Denning Assistant Professor of Computer Science and Engineering / Taylor University

Hillary Fleenor Lecturer and Undergraduate Coordinator / TSYS School of Computer Science / Columbus State University

Jonathan Geisler Associate Professor of Computer Science and Engineering / Taylor University

Scott Grissom Professor & Assistant Director / School of Computing & Info Systems, Grand Valley State University

Rania Hodhod Assistant Chair and Assistant Professor / TSYS School of Computer Science / Columbus State University

Jordon Huffman Instructor / TSYS School of Computer Science / Columbus State University

Frank McCown Associate Professor of Computer Science / Harding University

Amy McGovern Professor of Computer Science / University of Oklahoma

Elizabeth Morris Assoc. Academic Dean, Online & Professional Studies / California Baptist University

Scott Nestler Associate Teaching Professor, Mendoza College of Business / University of Notre Dame

Iain Pardoe Mathematics and Statistics Instructor / Thompson Rivers University

Lydia Ray Associate Professor / TSYS School of Computer Science / Columbus State University

Seth Reichelson Teacher / Lake Brantley High School

Rodney X. Sturdivant Professor, Dept. of Mathematics and Physics / Azusa Pacific University

Deborah Trytten President's Associates Presidential Professor and Associate Professor / School Computer Science, University of Oklahoma

Shuangbao (Paul) Wang Professor / TSYS School of Computer Science / Columbus State University

Krista Watts Assistant Professor / United States Military Academy, West Point

R. Stephen Weis Professor of Electrical Engineering / Texas Christian University

Ronald Williams Associate Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering / University of Virginia

Josh Yuen Ph. D Student in Computer Science / University of California, Riverside