MMSA has had an active and productive partnership with the University of Maine at Augusta (UMA) for many years. One recent manifestation of this partnership is the National Science Foundation grant award #1440464 titled Computer Science Expansion – Building Capacity for CS Teaching in a Rural State. Dr. Joseph Szakas is Co-Principal Investigator on the project as well as Vice President for Academic Affairs/Provost. Dr. Szakas obtained his PhD in computer science and is an invaluable source of computer science information.
As part of the grant, UMA developed a course for teaching computer science methods. Dr. Szakas along with Dr. Cindy Dean of UMA created the course and implemented it last summer. This is the first and only computer science methods course in Maine that has been accepted by the Maine Department of Education. UMA has hosted all three summer institutes for this grant; two were held in Augusta and one in Bangor. For the follow up workshop, UMA provided the use of facilities at University College to allow face to face sessions in Houlton and Biddeford. In addition to face to face sessions, there was also an opportunity for others to connect through video conferencing.
