About Me

Hi! My name is Jonathan Liu, and I am currently a PhD student at the University of Chicago, where I am fortunate enough to be advised by Professor Diana Franklin.

My work is in Computer Science Education, focused on curriculum development in a broad range of settings. Currently, I am specifically interested in mitigating technical and psychological barriers to learning Algorithms. I believe this can be done through interventions targeting the presentation of material, the teaching of core implicit skills, and the curation of a supportive course environment. Through these interventions, I aim to raise learning, persistence, and equity in CS courses. I am generously supported in part by a Liew Family Graduate Fellowship.

Previously, I graduated from UC Berkeley with degrees in Math and Computer Science, where I also ran UGTCS, an undergraduate group trying to make Theory CS more accessible.

In my free time, I play tennis, solve crosswords, and play games of all kinds (especially trick-taking games).

I will be looking for teaching-track faculty positions that begin Fall 2026.

Please feel free to reach out to me at jonliu (at) uchicago (dot) edu!

Select Research

Below is some selected work that reflect my primary research direction.

Journal Publications

Conference Publications

Posters

  • "How Do Learners Use Scratch Paper When Working on Dynamic Programming Problems?" Zihan Wu, Jonathan Liu, Erica Goodwin, Diana Franklin. SIGCSE TS 2025. Poster. Writeup.
  • "Teaching Algorithm Design: A Literature Review." Jonathan Liu, Seth Poulsen, Hongxuan Chen, Grace Williams, Yael Gertner, Diana Franklin. SIGCSE TS 2024. Poster. Writeup.

Final Projects for Graduate-Level Courses