Rowan Alumni Dr. Bethany Edmunds Wins ACM Award

Computer Science Alum Bethany Edmunds recently won a 2026 ACM SIGCSE Award for Broadening Participation in Computing Education! The ACM SIGCSE, the Association of Computing Machinery’s Special Interest Group on Computer Science Education, grants their award to a SIGCSE member that has made a significant contribution to making computing education accessible for all.

Dr. Edmunds won this prestigious award through her work at Northeastern University, where she creates and fights for an inclusive environment for both students and faculty as an Associate Dean of their Computer Science Department. Through advocating for more diversity in the Computer Science department, the Rowan Alum believes that “it's through understanding, listening, and the different ways of presenting the material that we reach out and we get more computer scientists.” She praises Rowan University for having this diversity  - specifically financial and gender diversity - and that this attribute allowed her to broaden her perspective, strengthen her love for education, and influence her to advocate for underserved and marginalized communities.

The Rowan Alum credits the university, the Computer Science Department’s professors, and her experience at Rowan for influencing her journey to advocacy. While at Rowan, Dr. Edmunds received a B.S in Computer Science, where she participated in robotics, competed in hackathons at ACM, and worked at Rowan’s Computer Lab for all four years of her undergraduate studies. However, she later decided to become a professor, influenced by our department’s very own professor, Dr. Kay! 

Yet, despite being academic-focused, the ACM awardee doesn’t just work on inclusivity in her university. Dr. Edmunds is also one of the CEOs of Happy Prime, a company that works on devices that creates closed captioning for people with disabilities, helping them actively participate in their communities. When asked what inspired her to create her company, she said that she realized that “there's a gap between [what] everyday people [have access to] and what computer scientists know is possible”, igniting her passion to bridge the two and help provide more resources for all. 

With combined efforts to increase inclusiveness in Computer Science within both her company and her university, there is no doubt as to how Dr. Edmunds won the ACM SIGCSE Award. The Computer Science department is proud to have her as an alumni!

Read more about Dr. Bethany Edmunds here: https://www.khoury.northeastern.edu/people/bethany-edmunds/  

Written by Cassandra Nicdao | Posted 02.17.26