Biography

Dr. Burge is a Professor of Computer Science and currently serves as the Executive Director for the Howard West initiative at Howard University. His primary research interest is in distributed computing and its applications in the design and development of social-technical systems. He is currently investigating the design and development of smart spaces to support immersive learning within a classroom, and smart spaces that facilitate the innovation process in distributed teams. He is also working with the Howard University Medical School's RCMI Center to utilize historical medical data to develop precision medicine tools to manage, detect, and prevent chronic diseases which affect African Americans. Additionally, he is also interested in researching design patterns for consensus algorithms for distributed Blockchain solutions. His research has been funded by NSF, NIH, Dept of Education, DHS, AFSOR, and various industry companies such as Amazon, and Google. His most recently funded project involves the design and development of socio-technology to triage elderly adults who suffer from cognitive decline utilizing ML/AI for Modeling Vocal Prosody and Facial Expressions.

Dr. Burge is also interested in Computer Science Education and Diversity, and Tech Entrepreneurship and Innovation. His work in CS Education and Diversity has primarily been focused on informal and personalized learning, and on the use of technology to aid in the socio-technical enculturation of underrepresented students in CS, K-12 initiatives, and diversity, equity, and inclusion beyond compliance. Dr. Burge practices design thinking as an innovative teaching methodology and promotes immersive learning and learning by doing. He co-teaches the Bison Startup and Bison Accelerate courses co-developed with YCombinator, in which students are guided through the process of founding technology startups. Dr. Burge is a certified Lean Launchpad Educator, and Stanford D-School Design Thinker. He is a co-founder of XediaLabs, a DC-based startup studio that provides training and technical consulting to local startups.

Dr. Burge has been featured in several articles, radio, and conference panels regarding diversity and inclusion in tech, and conducted a TedX talk on HBCUs role in the innovation and entrepreneurship ecosystem for African Americans. Dr. Burge is a Fellow of AAAS, BEYA Innovation Award recipient, and a Fulbright Scholar recipient.