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Maria Hwang is a professor of Computer Science at the Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT) in the Math and Science department. Her research focuses on delivering fashion, health, and wellness content through persuasive, personalized, and playful human-centered interfaces.  Courses she teaches include “Statistics, Machine Learning, and Data Mining,” “Programming and Mobile Apps,” “Statistical Analysis,” and “Basic Mathematics.”

Prior to joining FIT Maria was a post-doctoral researcher at the Columbia University Medical Center’s (CUMC) Biomedical Informatics Department working with Lena Mamykina. Maria received her doctorate of education (Ed.D.) at Teachers College, Columbia University in Instructional Technology and Media under the supervision of Charles Kinzer, focusing on persuasive messages for behavior change in a digital game environment. She continues her research on different persuasive and motivational strategies in gaming environments for healthful behavior and chronic disease management. She is also developing courses and modules that are geared towards non-computer science (CS) major students that can aid them in their career with the basic CS literacy and skills. She is hoping to create a CS minor at FIT through writing and developing more courses that are rigorous but also flexible for those coming in with no prior CS knowledge.