He is a Gordon Mckay professor of the practice of computer science at Harvard University. He is best known for teaching the online course Computer Science 50 (CS50) the largest course at Harvard and the largest Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) with lectures being viewed by over a million people, which is also offered at Yale University via online lectures. He is also a member of faculty at the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences.

He graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Science, a Master of Science and a Ph.D. for research into cybersecurity and computer forensics.