Jakita O. Thomas, Ph.D. is an Assistant Professor of Computer and Information Science at Spelman College in Atlanta, GA.  Dr. Thomas’s research interests include promoting access to healthcare information and services for under-served populations, exploring and describing the development of computational algorithmic thinking, improving reasoning using expert cases, scientific reasoning, complex cognitive skills learning, and computer-supported collaborative learning.  She received a Bachelor of Science degree in Computer and Information Science and a minor in Mathematics from Spelman College in 1999.  In 2006, Dr. Thomas was conferred a Ph.D. in Computer Science with a specialization in the Learning Sciences and Technology from the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta, GA, where she was a Presidential Fellow, National Physical Science Consortium Fellow, tutor, mentor, and Research Assistant.  Prior to her current position at Spelman College, Dr. Thomas was a Research Staff Member in the Service Design and People and Practices groups at IBM Research - Almaden in San Jose, CA.  Dr. Thomas is a member of the Cognitive Science Society, International Society of the Learning Sciences, Association of Computing Machinery, African-American Ph.Ds in CS, and Golden Key Naitonal Honor Society.  Dr. Thomas has received over 8k in funding to support her research.