Faculty spotlight: Alka Harriger

Alka Harriger, professor of computer and information technology, has been teaching software development courses in the Purdue University Department of Computer and Information Technology since 1982.

What Makes CIT Students Successful

It's no secret that Purdue’s computer and information technology program has an exceptional career placement rate (90%) as well as an above-average starting salary. But what is it that makes CIT graduates so successful?

"Everything that we do in the classroom is practical and applications-focused," Harriger says. "Our goal is to graduate students who are able to be productive right away, and it's possible to teach concepts of programming using commercially viable tools."

Harriger, like Baijian Yang (subject of another CIT Faculty Spotlight), emphasizes the advantage to students of exposing them to real-world problems. "At the end of my courses, students have created real, tangible, useful products for either themselves or for clients depending on the project they choose to pursue," she says. Students have the option to create fully functional, personal relationship management systems.

Harriger’s Current Work

Harriger is the co-principal investigator for Teaching Engineering Concepts to Harness Future Innovators and Technologists (TECHFIT). The project teaches educators and students how to combine information technology with fitness and learning in innovative and fun ways (See video below.)

In summer 2014, Professor Harriger and other researchers hosted two, six-day TECHFIT professional development workshops, one for teams of educators from Indiana and another for teacher teams from South Carolina. The multidisciplinary teams included educators from math, science, physical education, and engineering as collaborators to create exercise games, or exergames, implementing training and a technology toolkit provided by TECHFIT. The toolkits included software and hardware such as microcontrollers with interface screens, pushbuttons, proximity sensors, and other I/O devices and materials to support the creation of exergames. The games integrate technology and engineering principles within a physical education context in order to facilitate a healthy and active lifestyle.

The TECHFIT Student Showcase will be at the Purdue University France A. Cordova Recreational Sports Center on December 11, 2014. Students will demonstrate the exergames they've created, as well as their designing and engineering processes. The public is invited to watch the school teams demonstrate their innovations starting at noon and/or the awards presentation that begins at 2:30 pm.

In addition to TECHFIT, Harriger and her husband, Purdue professor Brad Harriger, volunteer their time helping students and teachers from middle schools and high schools prepare projects for the Phoenix Contact Nanoline Regional Contest. The contest challenges students to design and build a working automation system by implementing technology in creative ways. The Midwest regional will be held on the Purdue campus February 7, 2015, and the Southeast regional will be held on the College of Charleston campus February 14, 2015. Learn more about the Phoenix Contact Nanoline Contest and see the previous winners.

Harriger’s current interests include wearable technology, STEM education, and applying IT to healthcare/fitness. Learn more about Harriger on her professional profile page. If you’d like to get involved with any of her projects, email her.

TECHFIT Promotional Video

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