Seminar: Bridging the Gap: Aligning Computing Education with Modern Software Development
Anshul Shah
PhD Candidate
UC San Diego
Monday, February 23, 2026
1:30 - 2:30p.m.
1100 Torgersen
Abstract
The academia-industry gap in software engineering describes the misalignment between the skills students learn in universities and the expectations placed upon early-career software developers in industry. The gap is already present: while software developers work on large, existing code bases (i.e., brownfield development), the majority of university coursework asks students to create projects from scratch (i.e., greenfield development). Unfortunately, the gap is growing: as developers increasingly rely on GenAI programming assistants, CS programs must consider how to prepare students to use these tools while still promoting student learning. In this talk, I will discuss the research and teaching I've done to address this growing gap by preparing students for the realities of modern software development.
Biography
Anshul Shah is a PhD candidate at UC San Diego studying computing education. His research has uncovered the empirical impact of live coding, the struggles students encounter when working with large code bases, and students’ behaviors with and attitudes towards GenAI programming assistants. He has been recognized for both his teaching and research, earning the Doctoral Award for Teaching Excellence from UCSD CSE in 2025 and a Best Paper Award at ICER 2025--a premier computing education venue.