About Me
I’m a computer scientist who came to academia the long way around. I spent more than a decade building real-time software in industry before earning my PhD, and that path still shapes how I teach, what I research, and why I care so much about students building things.
The path here
Industry (1992–2005). After a BS in Computer Science and Applied Mathematics (1991) and an MS in Computer Science (1992) from the University at Albany, I joined Rupprecht & Patashnick Co., an R&D firm in Albany that made real-time aerosol measurement instruments. Over eleven years I went from software engineer to senior software engineer and software engineering manager, writing embedded and desktop software for scientific instruments. When Thermo Fisher Scientific bought the company, I went back to school.
PhD (2003–2008). I earned my PhD in Computer Science at the University at Albany, SUNY, working in bioinformatics and machine learning with Dr. Chittibabu Guda. My dissertation, Protein Sequence Classification with Bayesian Supervised and Semi-Supervised Learned Classifiers, received the university’s Distinguished Doctoral Dissertation Award.
Teaching (2008–). I taught at Mansfield University of Pennsylvania for two years, where I received the Memorable Campus Leader and Outstanding Senior Mentor awards. I joined Bucknell’s Department of Computer Science in 2010.
Teaching
I love designing courses from scratch. At Bucknell I’ve created or redesigned:
- CSCI 357: AI and Neural Networks (new, Spring 2026)
- CSCI 379: Design and Development for Extended Reality (new, Spring 2024): students learn Unity on Meta Quest 3 and build their own immersive experiences
- CSCI 349: Applied Machine Learning (formerly Introduction to Data Mining)
- CSCI 205: Software Engineering and Design
- UNIV 200: Introduction to Data Science, co-designed with Dr. Abby Flynt for non-majors
I also mentor senior design teams, lead summer XR projects for incoming engineers in the EXCELerator program, and have served as core faculty for the Institute for Leadership in Technology and Management. In 2018 I received Bucknell’s Presidential Award for Teaching Excellence. See Teaching for every course I’ve taught.
Research
My research has always centered on machine learning for sequential and time-series data. It started in bioinformatics (DNA and protein sequence classification and assembly) and grew to include eye-tracking trajectories, language and word prediction, handwriting recognition, stock and weather forecasting, and signal analysis for aerosol instruments with colleagues in Chemical Engineering.
Today my work sits where AI and extended reality meet:
- XR and eye tracking: what eye-tracked headsets make possible, from gaze interaction and foveated rendering to the gaze analytics I worked on for years (see Gaze Lab); a small PGCEI-funded effort to ideate and prototype an augmented-reality aid for data-center service technicians; and immersive learning, from my XR course to virtual study abroad with Digital Sojourns
- The energy cost of AI: measuring energy per token and which choices actually reduce it
- Small, efficient language models: test-time training so local LLMs can adapt as they read
- AI in education: how students actually use AI, and how we teach them to use it well
Nearly all of it happens with undergraduates. More than two dozen students have done research with me; see Research Students, Projects and Publications.
AI and data science at Bucknell
I was one of three faculty (with Dr. Matt Bailey and Dr. Pete Brooksbank) who worked to create the Dominguez Center for Data Science. I’m deeply grateful to Michael Dominguez ’91, whose gift made it possible (announcement). I then served as the center’s Faculty Fellow for the College of Engineering. More recently I:
- designed and am implementing Bucknell’s Interdisciplinary Minor in AI with Diane Jakacki
- served on the campus team for the AAC&U Institute on AI, Pedagogy, and the Curriculum
- represent the College of Engineering on the Academic AI Advisory Group
- co-founded PGCEI’s new App MakerSpace with Joe Meiser, where I serve as Faculty Guru
- work with my department colleagues on where AI belongs in our curriculum, and how to embrace it well
I give a lot of talks and workshops on AI for faculty, staff and students, and I’m often asked by the press about AI and data centers in Pennsylvania.
Outside work
When I’m not at a keyboard, I’m a parent first. I also play guitar and compose music, run, hike, bike, and practice mindfulness.
Contact
Email is best: brian.king <at> bucknell <dot> edu. More on the Contact page.