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Essa Imhmed, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor, Computer Science

Research

My research focuses on software engineering and computer science education, with an emphasis on integrating real-world, industry-aligned practices into the classroom. In particular, I study how automated and AI-driven tools—such as CI-based code assessment, static analysis, NLP techniques, and large language models—can support formative feedback, improve code quality, and enhance learning outcomes for novice programmers.

I am also interested in memory architecture design and the development of innovative data management techniques aimed at improving application performance.

You can visit the SEPO Lab page for more information about current research projects.

You can find my full publication list on:

Selected Publications

  1. E. Imhmed, E. Ceh-Varela, and M. Elfituri.
    Using Scrum to Improve Student Teamwork in a Project-Based Hybrid Learning Setting.
    2025 IEEE Frontiers in Education Conference (FIE), Nashville, TN, USA, 2025.

  2. E. Imhmed, E. Ceh-Varela, L. Scherer, G. Candal, and I. Sanjaya.
    WIP: CodeInspector: Automated LLM-Supported CS1-Level Code Assessment.
    2025 IEEE Frontiers in Education Conference (FIE), Nashville, TN, USA.

  3. Ceh-Varela, E., Imhmed, E., Parten, C., & Scherer, L.
    Enhancing Code Assessment and Feedback Generation with GenAI Agents.
    In Innovative Educational Assessment with Generative AI: Opportunities, Challenges, and Practical Case Studies, Springer Nature Switzerland, 2025.

  4. E. Imhmed, E. Ceh-Varela, H. Abu-Gellban, and S. Kilgore.
    Fostering Code Quality Practices Among Undergraduate Novice Programmers.
    Journal of Computing Sciences in Colleges, 39(7), 2024.

  5. E. Imhmed, E. Ceh-Varela, and S. Kilgore.
    Identifying Code Quality Issues for Undergraduate Students Using Static Analysis and NLP.
    2023 International Conference on Computational Science and Computational Intelligence (CSCI), IEEE.

  6. E. Imhmed, E. Ceh-Varela, J. Cook, and C. Parten.
    Evaluation of the Performance Impact of SPM Allocation on a Novel Scratchpad Memory.
    2023 IEEE COMPSAC Conference.

  7. E. Imhmed, J. Cook, and A. H. Badawy.
    Evaluation of a Novel Scratchpad Memory through Compiler Supported Simulation.
    2022 IEEE HPEC Conference.