Northwestern IT Inducts Professor Yiji Zhang to Canvas Hall of Fame

Yiji Zhang

Northwestern Engineering’s Yiji Zhang was inducted into the Canvas Hall of Fame on May 22 during the annual TEACHx event hosted by Northwestern Information Technology and the Office of the Provost.

Nominated by Northwestern students, Zhang won the “Most Innovative Course Site” award for COMP_SCI 211: Fundamentals of Computer Programming II. Students highlighted the accessible and well-organized structure of Zhang’s Canvas course site, from weekly announcements with summaries of due dates and upcoming topics to wellness checks and instructor feedback opportunities on the home page.

“The consistency of the content, with repeating weekly structures and clear guidelines, help students know exactly what to do and when,” the award selection committee said. “The tools used in the course are well integrated into the Canvas site and the course pages are all attractively designed.”

Launched in 2022 to honor instructors who go above and beyond to engage students through the Canvas Learning Management System, the Northwestern Canvas Hall of Fame celebrates exemplary course design and the innovative use of digital tools to enhance student learning experiences.

Zhang is an assistant professor of instruction in the Department of Computer Science at the McCormick School of Engineering. Passionate about software quality, Zhang’s research interests include automated debugging, automated testing, and compiler verification.

Prior to joining Northwestern Computer Science in September 2024, Zhang was a tenure-track assistant professor of computer science and software engineering at Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology. She earned a PhD in computer science from the University of Illinois Chicago, an MS in computer science and engineering from the University of Notre Dame, and a BS in software engineering from Zhejiang University in Hangzhou, China.