Nichole Pinkard

Nichole Pinkard is an American computer scientist and the Alice Hamilton Professor of Learning Sciences and faculty director of the Office of Community Education Partnerships (OCEP) in the School of Education and Social Policy at Northwestern University. She is helping lead a collaboration with Apple and the Chicago Public School system to teach computer programming to teachers. She was formerly an associate professor of computing and digital media at DePaul University and the co-founder of the Digital Youth Network, a hybrid digital literacy program, and has served as Director of Innovation for the University of Chicago's Urban Education Institute and as chief technology officer and director of the Information Infrastructure System project at the Center for Urban School Improvement. She holds a BS in computer science from Stanford University, an MS in computer science from Northwestern University and a PhD in Learning Sciences from Northwestern University, and in 2010 she received the Common Sense Media Award for Outstanding Commitment to Creativity and Youth.