Stephanie E. August, Ph.D. headshot

Stephanie E. August, Ph.D.

Independent Consultant

Engineering Education

Stephanie E. August is a computer scientist interested in the evolution of online, interactive, digital, learning environments. These environments are poised to address the challenges of 21st century STEM education and to develop an instructor “exoskeleton” that extends the ability of both instructor and students to engage more fully in the learning process. Stephanie is interested in seamlessly integrating humanistic and meta knowledge into computing courses. She is a strong advocate of interdisciplinary courses such as new media (English+graphics+computing), programming 3D animation tools (animation+computing), and first year seminars (English composition+computing). Stephanie has authored papers on innovative learning environments, natural language processing, reasoning by analogy, and STEM education, and was principal investigator on two National Science Foundation Division of Undergraduate Education grants focused on making computing sciences accessible and engaging for a diverse range of students and underutilized groups. August is currently an independent consultant in engineering education. Most recently she was a Visiting Professor in Engineering Education at California State University, Los Angeles. Previously she served as a program director at the National Science Foundation in the Division of Undergraduate Education where she contributed to programs in undergraduate education, data science, and the future of work at the human-technology frontier. Prior to that she was a professor of Computer Science at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles, where her teaching repertoire included courses in databases and artificial intelligence and she was one of the founding members of CREATE-STEM, an interdisciplinary group of LMU faculty aimed at advancing and promoting STEM education activities. Early in her career she served as a software engineer in the aerospace industry working on several defense C3I programs and applied artificial intelligence research for military and medical applications. Dr. August holds a B.A. in Slavic Languages and the M.S. and Ph.D. in Computer Science, all from University of California, Los Angeles.