Rate My Professor Dan Garcia

Dan Garcia is a Teaching Professor in the Computer Science division of the Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences department at the University of California, Berkeley. He holds B.S. degrees in Computer Science and Electrical Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1990, an M.S. in Computer Science from UC Berkeley in 1995, and a Ph.D. in Computer Science from UC Berkeley in 2000 with a focus on computer graphics and scientific visualization under advisor Brian Barsky. Garcia joined UC Berkeley as a Lecturer in fall 2000, advancing through Assistant Teaching Professor, Associate Teaching Professor, to Teaching Professor in spring 2012.

His academic interests center on computer science education research and development, promoting equity via mastery grading policies like "A's for All (as time and interest allow)" with soft deadlines, multiple exam chances, and no curves; computational game theory through the GamesCrafters group; and innovative curricula. Garcia co-developed CS 10: The Beauty and Joy of Computing, a non-majors course selected as one of five national pilots for AP Computer Science Principles in 2010, expanded into edX MOOCs, and used to train over 1,000 high school teachers. CS 10 has achieved up to 71% female enrollment in spring 2023, a Berkeley record. He has supervised 25 MS projects and over 1,000 undergraduates since 2001, teaching courses including CS 61A, CS 302, and CS 198. Major awards encompass the UC Berkeley Distinguished Teaching Award (2025), ACM Karl V. Karlstrom Outstanding Educator Award (2024 with Brian Harvey), ACM Distinguished Educator (2012), all four departmental computer science teaching awards, NCWIT Undergraduate Research Mentoring Award (2016), and recognition as ACM SIGCSE's most prolific author over 50 years (61 submissions, 2019). Key publications include "The Beauty and Joy of Computing" (ACM Inroads, 2015), "Kinesthetic Learning in the Classroom" (SIGCSE, 2004, 151 citations), and his Ph.D. thesis "CWhatUC: Software Tools for Predicting, Visualizing and Simulating Corneal Visual Acuity" (2000). Garcia's contributions extend to service on the ACM Education Board, CRA-WP Board, College Board AP CS Principles committee, SIGCSE program co-chair (2017), and symposium co-chair (2018), influencing national CS education diversity and proficiency standards.