Speakers and Judges

ABC CTE Code Jam 2025

Speakers for ABC CTE Code Jam 2025

Pratibha Agarwal

Pratibha Agarwal

Keynote Speaker

Pratibha Agarwal is a software engineer at Amazon who works on edge technology for the retail website. Pratibha has a Master of Science in Computer Science from University of California, Davis. She is interested in fields such as data visualization and human computer interaction. She advocates for women and non-binary individual contributors in technology at Amazon.

Constance Steinkuehler

Constance Steinkuehler

Games for Social Connectedness

Constance Steinkuehler is a Professor of Informatics at the UCI where she researches cognition, culture, and learning in the context of multiplayer videogames. She is the Co-Director of the Games+Learning+Society Center and she formerly served as Senior Policy Analyst in the Obama White House Office of Science and Technology Policy.

Her work has been featured in Science, Wired, USA Today, New York Times, LA Times, ABC, CBS, CNN NPR and the BBC. Current projects include investigations of toxicity and extremism in online commercial games and game-based programs in incarcerated settings to foster inclusion, equanimity, and social connectedness.

Amar Gandhi

Amar Gandhi

Introduction to APIs

Amar is a Cloud Software Engineer with the Aerospace Corporation. He received his Bachelor's in Science in Computer Science at Cal Poly Pomona. At Cal Poly, he was Vice President of the Computer Science Society and helped to organize BroncoHacks, a 110 student hackathon. In his day job, he works on all things cloud, containers, and infrastructure. A Whitney High School alum, he was involved in planning the first Code Jam in 2019.

Danny Cho

Danny Cho

A Glimpse of Software Engineering in the Industry

Danny Cho is a Quantitative Research Engineer at Citadel with a strong background in large-scale infrastructure and systems. He earned his BS in CS from UC Santa Barbara and an MS from Stanford. After five years as a software engineer at Facebook and Google, he transitioned to finance at Citadel. Passionate about hackathons, he was the lead organizer for UCSB’s event and attended around 15 during undergrad. His expertise spans high-performance computing and distributed systems, blending technical depth with a drive for innovation.

Judges for ABC CTE Code Jam 2025

Matt Johnson

Matt Johnson

Judge / Faculty Advisor

Matt Johnson is a teacher of physics and artificial intelligence at Whitney High School. He believes that the computer is the defining invention and device of modern humanity. As such, all young people need have at least some exposure to the logic upon computers are built. In order to be self-sufficient, useful, and aware of how society is changing, the computer needs to be a tool students can enjoy and command rather than some mystery device.

Richard Crow

Richard Crow

Judge / Faculty Advisor

Richard Crow is a Computer Science teacher at Cerritos High School. Richard has been a teacher for over ten years, and prior to teaching Computer Science he taught Math at both Cerritos High and Teztlaff Middle schools. He graduated from California State University in Fullerton, and did his student teaching at Cerritos High. Richard loves teaching Computer Science because it allows him to encourage students to pursue STEM fields in college.

Eamon Marchant

Eamon Marchant

Judge / Faculty Advisor

Eamon Marchant is the AP Computer Science Principles and Physics teacher at Whitney, where he also serves as the head of the science department. Often partaking in sports such as cross country and badminton, he mentors students both academically and athletically. With a strong passion for education and computer science, Marchant inspires the next generation of thinkers and problem-solvers.