Faculty Profile: Professor of Computer Science Zach Dodds

Professor Dodds has taught at Harvey Mudd since 1999 and currently is the Leonhard-Johnson-Rae Professor of Computer Science. He received an undergraduate degree from Yale in Mathematics and taught at a K-12 school for two years. While he enjoyed teaching, he ended up back at Yale for a graduate degree in Computer Science. After graduation, Professor Dodds knew that he still wanted to pursue teaching. He interviewed at a lot of places, and says that Mudd stuck out because it had the “coolest” atmosphere but the “warmest” community. The community remains his favorite part of Mudd–especially how dedicated it is to making everything a positive experience for everyone. Professor Dodds says he sees this in the Core Curriculum, which gives students a shared understanding of different topics.

Now at Mudd, Professor Dodds regularly teaches both CS 5: Introduction to Computer Science (the introductory course to computer science that all Mudd freshmen take), and CS 181Y: Computer Science for Insight (a course designed to follow CS 5 for non-computer science majors). In the past, he has also taught CS 189: Programming Practicum, a class for self designed projects, lab classes in robotics and computer vision, and CS 60: Principles of Computer Science (the class that follows CS 5 for computer science majors). Professor Dodds is most interested in classes that show the intersection between computing and other disciplines, especially when they emphasize the connection computer science has to the rest of Mudd’s curriculum. He hopes that students take away from his classes that computing is exciting and empowering, and especially enjoys teaching introductory courses for that reason.

Professor Dodds’ primary research interest is a project called CS for Insight, which focuses on the interface between computing and all other disciplines. In recent summers, he has worked with students to update CS 5 and develop CS 181Y, compare outcomes from CS 5 and the biology-based introduction to computer science CS 5 green, and create a high school level version of CS 5. Professor Dodds also has a research interest in pixel processing and computer vision, but is not currently running a lab in that area.

Outside of teaching, Professor Dodds enjoys reading, skiing, watching sports, and listening to music. He is currently reading Wolf Hall by Hillary Mantel. Before the pandemic, he also enjoyed travelling with his wife. His advice for prospective students considering Mudd is to “ask yourself, will you be energized by or skeptical of diving into not just your favorite field but all fields.”