I am a full-time lecturer in the Computer Science department. As Director of Introductory Undergraduate Instruction, I am responsible for the CS111-CS112-CS213 sequence of courses, and its articulation with the rest of the department.

I am the founding director of the Computer Science Industrial Affiates Program (IAP), and am the principal liaison person for industry relationships. Prior to the IAP, I founded the Industrial Advisory Board to get input from companies on our curriculum.

Over the years, I have taught various topics in CS including Data Structures, Software Methodology, Databases, Discrete Structures, Algorithms, Intro to Programming (Pascal,C,Java).

I am in charge of CS112 (Data Structures) and CS213 (Software Methodology), coordinating all lectures of each.

Last fall, I taught a freshman Byrne seminar, "Back to the Future: Evolution of Modern Computing".

In Spring 2012, I am teaching 112 (Data Structures), and 213 (Software Methodology, including developing Android apps.).

I am on the Advisory Board of RATE (Rutgers Advanced Technology Extension).

I was recently recognized with a 2010 School of Arts and Sciences (SAS) Award for Distinguished Contributions to Undergraduation Education

I hold a Ph.D. in Computer Science from Rutgers. My research was in supercomputing: developing highly parallelizable algorithms for an important class of sparse matrix computations. Before emigrating to the US, I studied at the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay (Mumbai), from where I got a Bachelor of Technology (B.Tech.) degree in Computer Science and Engineering.

You can reach me by email at venugopa@cs.rutgers.edu

I play Guitar Hero off and on, although not as often as I used to. Still, if you are looking to do some GH jamming, I am game.

I do a lot of "recreational programming", nowadays focused on building apps for Android mobile phones.

Also trying my hand at writing a novel. It's DONE!! (And it's NOT about a computer scientist!)

I have written a textbook, published in November 2006.

Chinese English translation published in fall 2008, for students in the People's Republic of China.

A textbook for teaching Data Structures (CS2), updated to use generic types for all container structures, and complete with a 90-page introduction to object-oriented programming in Java. Stand-out feature? An outside-in approach that shows how to choose and how to use a data structure (outside) before building it (inside).

Take-away nugget? Every data structures comes with a "price tag", integrated right into each structure's interface. Read the book, and see how.

Available at amazon.com.