Ismael Villegas Molina

I am a final-year PhD candidate at UC San Diego advised by Gerald Soosairaj, Leo Porter, and Bill Griswold. My research aims to broaden participation and success of U.S. Latine students in computer science by developing approaches that center their cultural identities, values, and lived experiences. To this end, I investigate culturally relevant computing and socially responsible computing practices, as well as the use of large language models to design tools and learning experiences that equitably support this community. My work draws on perspectives from computing education, human-computer interaction, and artificial intelligence to create more inclusive and socially conscious pathways into computing.

As an instructor-of-record, I have taught the introductory computer science course for first-time prorgrammers. The course website includes many aspects of the course including lecture slides and the syllabus. Lecture recordings are available on YouTube.

My free time is mainly being with my wife and our 1-year-old baby! Those two are my WORLD! I also take time to go to the movie theater as much as I can (check out my Letterboxd for movie reviews), make short films, and also play music whenever I have the time (mainly trombone and piano).

In the 2025-2026 academic year, I am on the job market searching for postdoc positions, tenure-track academic positions, or industry research positions.