Research and Interests

Current and Recent Research Projects

Mass Gathering Research

Since 2019, I have been collaborating with the Shambhala Music Festival's Medical and Harm Reduction teams to develop a data collection and visualization platform. In the short term, these tools help these teams adapt and improve their services at this annual music festival. In the long term, the goal is to develop a multi-event platform to support Mass Gathering Research.

Projects and Platforms
  • Cloud Platform and CI/CD Pipeline
  • Mediform Web form for Medical Department
  • Post-show visualization platform
  • Mediform Web form for Harm Reduction Department
  • Role-based authentication
  • Role management platform
  • Android application Medical Department
  • Real-time visualization platform for Medical Department
  • Post-show visualization platform for Harm Reduction
Student Research Assistants, past and present
  • Ryan Boothby-Young
  • Alex McColm
  • Ann Hoffmann
  • Brad Hillier
  • Tyler Patton
  • Hayden Lister
  • Johann Suarez
  • Zeke Critchlow
  • Carolyn McAughren
  • Jonathan Funk

Incorporation of Indigenous Ways of Knowing (IWoK) in CS Curriculum

I am interested in how to meaningfully and respectfully incorporate IWoK into CS teaching. I have incorporated the Four Rs (Verna Kirkness and Ray Barnhardt) into CSCI 375: Systems Analysis. In collaboration with Georgina Martin, we are investigating how receptive CS students are to the Four Rs.

Projects and ongoing work
  • Adapting the Four Rs to a CS context
  • Bibliometric Analysis of IWoK in Math Education
  • Bibliometric Analysis of IWoK in CS Education

ePaper Research

Previous student research projects investigated how to better design these ePaper technologies so that they best support human capabilities.

Student Research Projects
  • Use of Digital ePaper Tablet to Support Whiteboard-style Instructional Workflow during the COVID-19 pandemic
  • Rapid transformation of whiteboard-based instruction using ePaper technology when working at home during a global pandemic
  • Usability of eWriter devices
  • Adapting to new writing surfaces
  • Typeface design for ePaper devices
Student Research Assistants
  • Sean Mang
  • Lindsay MacDowell
  • Navodit Kaushal
  • Jasmine Banga
  • Liam Stokes
  • Terra Groenewold
  • Ben Smith

Other Activities

Awards and Honours

  • VIURAC Innovate Grant (2025)
  • VIUFA Time Award (2024)
  • The President’s Awards for Enhancing Access and Inclusion: Demonstrating Excellence in Education (2023)
  • VIUFA Assisted Leave (2023)
  • VIURAC Share Grant (2023)
  • VIURAC Innovate Grant (2021)
  • VIURAC Inquiry Grant (2019)
  • Mitacs Accelerate Postdoc Grant (2018)

Publications

  • Sarah Carruthers. Reflective Dialogue to Support Curricular Change. ITiCSE'25.
  • Sarah Carruthers. Indigenization and Decolonization of CS Education 2010-2023: A Bibliometric Analysis. WCCCE'24.
  • Sarah Carruthers. The Four Rs for a Computer Science Context. WCCCE'24.
  • Sarah Carruthers. On a Path to Indigenization and Decolonization of Computer Science Teaching. SIGSE'24.
  • Amber Thomas, Aaron Wang, Liam Kaufman-Willis, Sarah Carruthers. Growing an Accessible and Inclusive Systems Design Course with PlantUML. SIGCSE'23.
  • Sarah Carruthers. Co-Designing for Accessibility (Blizzard Talk). WCCCE'22.
  • Sarah Carruthers, Andrew MacLean, Todd Milford, Ulrike Stege. Universal (Un)plugged Adapters: Re-imagining CS Unplugged for Highschool and Beyond. Creative Mathematical Sciences Communication, 2018.
  • Andrew MacLean, Sarah Carruthers, Todd Milford, Ulrike Stege. Creating a Competency Continuum: Assessing Mathematical Literacy in Secondary Education. Creative Mathematical Sciences Communication, 2018.
  • Sarah Carruthers, Ulrike Stege, Michael E. J. Masson. The Role of the Goal in Problem Solving Hard Computational Problems: Do People Really Optimize? Journal of Problem Solving. 2018.
  • Sarah Carruthers. The Role of the Goal in Problem Solving Hard Computational Problems: Do People Really Optimize? PhD Thesis, University of Victoria, 2015
  • Michael E. J. Masson, Sarah Carruthers. Control processes in voluntary and explicitly cued task switching. The Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology. 2014
  • Sarah Carruthers, Modelling human performance on the vertex cover problem. MathPsych, 2014.
  • Sarah Carruthers, Ulrike Stege. On Evaluating Human Problem Solving of Computationally Hard Problems. Journal of Problem Solving. 2013.
  • Sarah Carruthers, Computational Problems and Evaluation of the Power of the Human Cognitive System (winning poster). Canadian Mathematical Society, 2013.
  • Sarah Carruthers, Michael E. J. Masson, and Ulrike Stege. Human Performance on Hard Non-Euclidean Graph Problems: Vertex Cover. Journal of Problem Solving. May 2012.
  • Sarah Carruthers. Vertex Cover and Human Problem Solving. Computer Science & Problem Solving: New Foundations (Dagstuhl Seminar 11351) 2011.
  • Sarah Carruthers, Todd Milford, Tim Pelton, Ulrike Stege. Draw a Social Network. In Proceedings of the 16th annual joint conference on Innovation and technology in computer science education (ITiCSE'11), 2011.
  • Sarah Carruthers. Grasping Graphs. Master's Thesis, 2010.
  • Sarah Carruthers, Todd Milford, Tim Pelton, Ulrike Stege. Moving K-7 Computer Science Instruction into the Information Age. In Proceedings of the Western Canadian Conference for Computing Education (WCCCE), 2010.
  • Sarah Carruthers. Relational Graphs: What are they? (video). In Proceedings of the 41st SIGCSE Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education (SIGCSE’10), 2010.
  • Sarah Carruthers. An Interdisciplinary Guide for K-8 Computer Science Education (poster). In Proceedings of the 41st SIGCSE Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education (SIGCSE’10), 2010.
  • Sarah Carruthers, Kat Gunion, Ulrike Stege. Computational Biology Unplugged (workshop). WCCCE 2009.
  • Murdoch, J., St. Pierre, A.A., Coady, Y., Carruthers, S., Gibbs, C., Lonergan, S., Srivastava, G., Stege, U., Yazir, O.. SPARCS from the University of Victoria: Supporting Sustainable and Integrated Outreach Activities for Educators and Young Minds. In Meeting the Growing Demand for Engineers and Their Educations 2010-2020 International Summit, 2007 IEEE.
  • Anissa Agah St. Pierre, Sarah Carruthers, Yvonne Coady, Rebeca Dunn-Krahn, Sophia Dunn-Krahn, Celina Gibbs, Haley Gibbs, Georgia Gibbs, Steven Lonergan, Jeff Proctor, Ulrike Stege, Ciara Storey, Margaret-Anne Story: Young Minds Storming Through, Challenging Computer Science Concepts. WCCCE 2007.
  • Sarah Carruthers, Valerie King: Connectivity of Wireless Sensor Networks with Constant Density. ADHOC-NOW 2004: 149-157