Mark Miller

Research interests

• Computer science education

Education

• PhD in Artificial Intelligence and Education, Massachusetts Institute of Technology 
• BS in Psychology and Applied Physics and Information Science, University of California San Diego 

Biography

Mark Miller is a part-time lecturer at the Khoury College of Computer Sciences at Northeastern University. He earned his bachelor’s in psychology and applied physics and information science from the University of California San Diego, and his PhD in artificial intelligence and education from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He currently teaches in the Align program and finds students’ energy and enthusiasm inspiring despite the challenges they face while also working full-time.  

In 2000, Miller founded Learningtech.org, incorporating it as The Miller Institute for Learning with Technology, a California 501(c)(3) non-profit. He serves as both its lead technical contributor and its president and executive director. The mission of the organization is to help “children of all ages” use technology more effectively for learning. Services include E Rate applications; technology plan preparation; professional development relating to Computer Science, Robotics and Making; IT consultation (network design; server router configuration/administration; technology impact assessment); and sponsored research in the areas of Educational Technology and Computer Science Education. 

Before founding Learningtech.org, Miller served as Lab Director for Learning and Tools at Apple, reporting to the Vice President, Advanced Technology Group [ATG], where he spent almost a decade heading up educational technology investigations. Apple programs under his direction at various times included: Apple Classrooms of Tomorrow [ACOT]; Apple Global Education [AGE]; Visualization and Simulation; Business Learning and Performance Support; and Multimedia Authoring Tools. Responsibilities included oversight of over three-dozen employees, including Apple Distinguished Scientists and numerous engineers with advanced degrees, with annual budget responsibility in excess of $6 million. 

Miller’s industry experience includes Texas Instruments’ Central Research Labs [TI], where Miller established its widely recognized Machine Intelligence research program, emphasizing educational applications, expert systems, and natural language processing. Miller later co-founded Computer*Thought Corporation (Dallas, Texas), a high-tech TI spinoff backed by venture capital, where he led the design of an advanced instructional system to retrain software engineers for the Ada programming language, then being implemented for the International Space Station. 

In June 2020, Miller, along with Cynthia Solomon and a half-dozen Logo pioneers, published an article, History of Logo, in ACM SIGPLAN’s History of Programming Languages journal, describing the early development of this highly influential programming language for children. Additionally, Miller is President Emeritus of the Computer Science Teachers Association [CSTA] San Jose. He is an active participant in California’s growing efforts to bring CS to K-12 education — with attention to equity, diversity, and inclusion.

Recent publications