Julia Armstrong is the Director of the OHI/O Informal Learning Program. She combines engineering (BS ECE), public teaching of gifted education (M.Ed. Talent Development) and industry experience (PMP, CSM) to grow the offerings and strength of the program and build rapport with industry partners. She uses her diverse interests and skills to bridge the gap between curricular education and skills of the working professional. Armstrong is part of a multi-disciplinary team receiving a $1.2M NSF award for Advancing Informal STEM Learning. In 2020, Armstrong was named as one of the first KEEN Engineering Unleashed Faculty Fellows. Her grant funded the pilot of a new electronics course for CSE majors, focused on application and industry connections.

In her four years at Ohio State, Armstrong designed and partnered on a wide variety of educational events for students to explore through active learning experiences. She focuses on current trends and connecting students to industry representatives, emphasizing open-ended and problem-based learning, encouraging students to continue exploration of topics and challenges of interest. Armstrong has grown the OHI/O Informal Learning Program from a few events to two dozen, now serving over 1,600 students annually, including several K12 outreach events.

In addition, Armstrong teaches the CSE Capstone Course for Software Engineering and coordinates all of the industry sponsored projects for each semester. Courses taught: CSE 5911, CSE 5915, ECE 5465, ECE 2020 (pilot version)