The Laws of Boolean Algebra

LUNCH
Lunch is served at 11:45 am.

ABSTRACT
Boolean algebra is a foundational tool of hardware design and is often one of the first topics introduced to students in their hardware courses. This mock lecture will introduce the laws of Boolean algebra through the use of collaborative examples which incrementally culminate towards the reduction of a complex Boolean expression. In the second half of the talk, Connor will discuss her teaching philosophy and future teaching plans.

SPEAKER BIO
Connor McMahon is a Master's student in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at the University of California, Berkeley. She served as a co-instructor for UC Berkeley's 500+ student Computer Architecture course in Spring 2022. She previously served as the Head TA for this course and also served as a TA for the Computer Architecture and Digital Design courses at Georgia Tech during her undergraduate program. She was well received in each of these positions, receiving the UC Berkeley Campus Outstanding Graduate Student Instructor Award, the UC Berkeley EECS Outstanding TA Award, and the Georgia Tech ECE Outstanding Undergraduate Teaching Assistant Award. Her Master's work centers on redesigning the weekly Computer Architecture labs to include scaffolded learning exercises that are meant to increase students' sense of agency and improve learning outcomes.