Brian Nelson

Brian C. Nelson is professor and head of the Designing Equitable Learning, Teaching, and Assessment (DELTA) lab at Arizona State University. His research focuses on the theory, design, and implementation of immersive learning and assessment environments, and on promoting equitable K12 computer science and computational thinking education.

Dr. Nelson is currently serving as PI on the NSF-funded Accessible Computational Thinking (ACT) project. ACT investigates best practices for helping teachers provide culturally relevant experiences for all elementary children to participate in and engage with computational thinking (CT) integrated into their science lessons.

Dr. Nelson was co-founder and co-director of Computer Science for Arizona (CSforAZ), a statewide computer science taskforce that focused on bringing computer science education and professional development statewide. Nelson also served as vice president of the Arizona chapter of the Computer Science Teachers Association (CSTA).

Previously, Dr. Nelson served as Co-PI on the NSF-funded Ask Dr. Discovery, SAVE Science, SURGE, and River City projects. He also served as Co-PI on the MacArthur funded 21st Century Assessment and Our Courts projects. Each of these studies explored the use of computer games to teach and assess STEM content and skills.

He earned his doctorate in Education from Harvard University.