Author Archives: Janet Davis

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About Janet Davis

Liberal arts CS professor, semi-retired to a fellowship at King's College, Cambridge.

First impressions of life as a Fellow at King’s

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Similar to my prior faculty position at Whitman, my position as a College Teaching Officer at King’s is donor-supported. The difference is that Whitman’s CS positions are supported through endowments, while the King’s CS CTO position is supported by a current-use gift.

These are the instructions I was given for an 800-word benefactor report due at the end of July:

For this specific update I would need you to include your first impressions of life as a Fellow at King’s, highlight any collaborations that may have already started with other King’s or Cambridge academics, and share (as much as it is possible) your academic objectives. Links to any papers published are always helpful. It will serve as an introductory report so the donor knows you’ve settled in well.

And these are the 712 words I wrote:

My name is Janet Davis. After a 20 year career teaching at US liberal arts colleges, I joined King’s College as a CTO for computer science in January 2026. 

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Photo essay: My first graduation at King’s College

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This week, I participated in my first graduation at King’s College, Cambridge. As Director of Studies for the new graduates in computer science, it seemed important for me to be there.

It was very different from past graduations I’ve experienced in the United States, so I thought I’d report and reflect on my experiences. If you are curious, you can also read an official description of graduation at King’s College.

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Four CHI ’26 papers I wish I wrote

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In the very first paper session at CHI 2026, I found myself thinking, “I wish I wrote this paper!” And then I found myself thinking that a few times more. Since I’m on the hunt for new research questions, it seems worth digging into why I had these reactions. I’ll do so here.

For each paper, I’ll address the following questions:

  • What is the paper about?
  • Why do I wish I wrote it?
  • Could I, in fact, have written it?
  • What next steps does the paper inspire?
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Reflections on CHI 2026

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CHI 2026 in Barcelona was part of my original sabbatical plan. CHI is the premier conference spanning all areas of human-computer interaction, and Barcelona is a direct flight from the UK.

It’s been ten years since I last attended CHI 2016 in San Jose. Why so long? I had a baby in 2017, and there was a pandemic in 2020. Beyond those temporal factors, there are structural factors too. CHI is an expensive conference, and travel is expensive since the location rotates between North America, Europe, and Asia. CHI is typically scheduled for April or May, a difficult time to get away from Whitman: April is the “month of 1000 nights” chock full of final presentations and performances, including the Whitman Undergraduate Conference, running up to final exams and Commencement in May. It’s hard to justify attending a conference if I have nothing to present there, but classes to teach at home.

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My first term at King’s College, Cambridge

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At the University of Cambridge, the academic year has three eight-week terms. I’m now celebrating a successful conclusion to my first term at Cambridge – a good time to look back and reflect.

A term goes by really fast, but it’s a bit more than eight weeks in practice. In fact, the Cambridge academic calendar is quite confusing! Lectures don’t start at the beginning of term, but rather a week or two later. “Full Term” begins two days before the start of lectures and ends two days after. Students and Fellows must be in residence in Cambridge during the entirety of Full Term, with few exceptions. The days at the beginning of Full Term are time for academic advising and settling in before lectures start. The days at the end are not for exams, as they would be at most US institutions. Instead, they allow for supervision and academic advising meetings after the last lectures are over.

My previous post was published Monday, January 19, the day before the first day of Full Term. As I write today, it’s Thursday, March 26, the day after the last day of Lent Term.

Although there are precisely eight weeks of lectures, the first lectures are on a Thursday and the last are on a Wednesday. Since my workweek is Monday through Friday, I’ll number my weeks as such below – starting, of course, from 0.

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Counting from zero, again

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I’m starting over again – this time at one of the oldest universities in the world.

Friends and colleagues know I’m on sabbatical this year from my position at Whitman. For once, I’m the trailing spouse: my husband has long-standing collaborations with faculty at the University of Cambridge. I came here with a need to reboot my research and an open mind about what form new collaborations might take.

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Enrollments for Spring 2025

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Here’s my usual report on our spring 2025 enrollments, as of week 2 of the semester.

NumberTitleEnrolled/Capunder MathShe:He
CS 167-A,BIntro. Computational Problem Solving51/601:2
CS 210-A,BComputer Systems Fundamentals40/403:5
CS/Math 215Introduction to Data Science26/2511:1
CS 255Computer Simulation Methods21/241:2
CS 267Human-Computer Interaction16/161:1
CS 270-A,BData Structures21/321:3
CS 303ST: Computational Exercises12/301:3
CS/Math 327Algorithm Design & Analysis21/2411:4
CS/Math 350Foundations of Machine Learning23/20201:3
CS 370Software Design24/201:2
CS 496Capstone Project II22/161:3
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Guest post: CS student experiences at DIS Copenhagen

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Today in our weekly CS Pizza talk and discussion series, the CS department hosted a panel of senior CS majors sharing their off-campus study experiences. Five juniors went abroad last year, and four were able to join the lunchtime panel. I was unable to attend because of my daughter’s early school dismissal, but I hear it went really well!

LJ Friedman, who was unable to join the panel due to a conflicting class, offered to write up his experiences. I offered to share it as a guest post in my blog, and here it is!

Hi! My name is LJ Friedman. I’m a senior Computer Science major and am expecting to minor in Psychology, Math, and Music. I chose to study in Copenhagen because of the offered classes and the location. The program had several courses I was interested in that were more niche and/or didn’t exist at Whitman, and I was excited to take a spread of both Computer Science and Psychology courses that covered topics I otherwise wouldn’t have the opportunity to take. I was primarily interested in the Game Design course, which focused on teaching game design, coding organization, and Unity and C#. There were also Psychology courses that I was particularly interested in, specifically a course on identity, conflict, and discrimination. 

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