November 18, 2025DMC Partners with South Brunswick High School on AI in Computer Science Education

The DMC Center is collaborating with South Brunswick High School on a research project exploring how generative AI tools can support – rather than replace – student learning in introductory computer science courses.

As AI tools like ChatGPT become increasingly common in education, there’s an open question: how do we help students use these tools effectively without short-circuiting the learning process? This partnership between DMC Director Scott Frees and SBHS Computer Science teacher (and Ramapo adjunct Computer Science professor) Steven Schiff aims to find out.

The study involves high school students across eight sections of “Computer Science in the 21st Century,” testing three different approaches to AI access: no AI, limited AI (where students use it only for understanding), and a custom-build AI assistant – built at the Ramapo DMC Center – designed to explain concepts without writing code for students. By rotating these conditions across different programming topics, the research team hopes to understand which approaches help students learn foundational concepts most effectively.

This collaboration represents the kind of practical research needed as educators adapt to rapidly evolving technology. Rather than banning AI or giving students unlimited access, the project explores middle ground—helping students develop both programming skills and the judgment to use AI tools responsibly. The findings will provide guidance for computer science educators navigating similar questions about AI integration in their own classrooms.

Learn more about the project at codewithgrace.com.

Categories: Computer Science, Cybersecurity, Data Science

October 30, 2025Highlight Your Internship Story: Pranish Khanal - Workforce Opportunity Services

Welcome to the DMC’s Highlight Your Internship Story series, where we showcase the impressive work our students are doing during their internships. These stories highlight how hands-on experience is helping them grow professionally and launch successful careers in tech.

Congratulations to Pranish Khanal, Computer Science major at Ramapo! This fall Pranish has been working for Workforce Opportunity Services (WOS) in New York City as a Junior Development Intern. So far he hashelped redesign two organizational websites. He also provide technical support, helping troubleshoot issues and adapt to various projects in a fast-paced small company environment. Beyond coding, He has had the chance to work on digital marketing campaigns across LinkedIn and Google Ads which has been a completely different experience that taught him a lot new perspectives. This provided valuable insights into marketing a company and the science behind it. Interning at WOS has been one of his best learning experiences, combining web development, data analysis, marketing strategy, and how businesses operate beyond just the technical side.

If you are in any of the DMC majors – Computer Science, Data Science, Cybersecurity, Mathematics, and Bioinformatics – and would like to be featured, please contact Dr. Al-Juboori (aaljuboo@ramapo.edu) or Dr. Frees (sfrees@ramapo.edu)!

Categories: Computer Science, Internship Story