Student CS researcher Aniyah Tucker featured by national Computing Research Association

The widely influential Computing Research Association recently featured UNC Charlotte’s Aniyah Tucker, an undergraduate computer science student, in their regular newsletter with an interview highlighting her published computing education research in the College of Computing and Informatics and her participation in CRA’s Undergraduate Research to PhD program.

During her sophomore year, Tucker was having trouble in a class taught by Dale-Marie Wilson, teaching professor of computer science. When she approached Wilson asking for advice on how to do better, Wilson had a novel idea: instead of only offering help with coursework, she also asked Tucker to join her research lab as a student assistant.

“That was one of the best decisions I have ever made in my life,” Tucker said.

In collaboration with Wilson, CCI doctoral student Eric Betties and fellow undergraduate partners, Tucker helped lead a research project where their team evaluated a four-week program designed to help first-year computing students with little or no programming experience transition into the field through hands-on programming activities, collaboration and peer mentorship. In November 2025, their findings that the new program significantly impacted student performance were published in the peer-reviewed Journal of Computing Sciences in Colleges.

“We compared the grades of students who participated in the program with students who did not, and found that the program was very helpful academically,” Tucker said. “They developed close bonds with each other, became less shy and reported feeling like they had made lifelong friends, which was amazing to see!”

“Working alongside Aniyah has been an absolute privilege,” Wilson said. “I am always profoundly inspired when students who have been historically overlooked are given the opportunity to excel, and they do exactly that.”

Through subsequent research experiences including the UR2PhD research skills course and a summer undergraduate research experience in partnership with the Computing Research Association, Tucker’s passion for computer science blossomed further. Tucker now plans to pursue her PhD in computing upon completion of her B.S. in computer science with a concentration in information technology.

“I only went to college to shut my dad up, because he wanted me to go so bad…My plan was to go to school for four years and never touch a book again, but research has completely changed my plans,” Tucker said. “Now I want to get my PhD. and keep going to school.

“[Recently] I told my dad this and he joked, ‘Who is this? Where’s my daughter?’I love doing research and I’m so passionate about it now,” she said.

Visit the link below to read Tucker’s full interview with CRA:
https://cra.org/crn/2026/06/undergraduate-research-highlight-evaluating-a-first-year-transition-program-for-cs-education/