Dr. Ronald Erdei is a Visiting Assistant Professor of Technology Leadership & Innovation at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana. As of Fall 2016, he has been the instructor of record (under varying titles) for 13 computer programming or information technology courses at Purdue University. He has helped guide over 700 graduate and undergraduate students to develop not merely technical skills, but more importantly computational thinking abilities, critical thinking abilities, and problem decomposition skills widely considered fundamental to professional success in the modern 21st century workplace.

Dr. Erdei greatly enjoys teaching, and finds the processes involved in learning to be fascinating. His discovery efforts focus on these learning processes with much of his research lying in the learning sciences. Specific topics of interest include: instructional scaffolding in computing disciplines, cooperative learning in college students, andragogical and pedagogical practices aimed at reducing learner discomfort during the learning process, and optimization of educational content delivery for targeted populations.

Prior to entering academia, Dr. Erdei's career focused on data-centric information technology systems. He possesses just over a decade of industry and consulting experience, and has worked in the roles of application developer, database analyst, database architect, and database administrator.