Jason James graduated with his BS in Computer Science (minor in Applied Mathematics) and his MS in Computer Science (Theory emphasis) both from the then University of Missouri at Rolla (UMR) now Missouri University of Science and Technology (MST). While working on his PhD (Artificial Intelligence emphasis; ABD), Jason taught introductory programming to engineering students using both FORTRAN and C++. He also taught Freshman and Sophomore topics in CIS at an adjunct campus of Columbia College during this time.
When economic pressures moved him to Chicagoland and the wonderful world of William Rainey Harper College, Jason focused on teaching Freshman and Sophomore CSC courses and the occasional MTH course — especially Discrete Math. During his twenty years at Harper, Jason has also taken over as chair of the Computer Science department; served on committees for Curriculum, Academic Standards, and Testing and Placement; co-mentored the Robotics/Engineers club; and plans to start a Computer Science club/ACM Student Chapter in the Fall, but teaching remains his focus and heart.
He maintains memberships in both the Association of Computing Machinery (ACM) and the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. (IEEE) — most especially their education-focused interest groups. Jason also tries to attend conferences of the Consortium for Computing Sciences in Colleges (CCSC) whenever he can get away.
When not playing Dungeon & Dragons with his wife and friends, he and his wife take care of their two beautiful sons and two ornery cats. In his spare time, Jason enjoys developing formulae for counting the results of dice rolls — with an eye toward a 'nice' standard deviation formula; using the LaTeX word processing package to prepare lecture supplements and exams; creating lecture supplements and assignments online; and the development of a calculator language & its interpreter which are being applied to classroom management software (such as a gradebook and an exam analyzer). He's also recently taken to writing — converting those lecture supplements into an OER textbook for [at least] his students at Harper College.