[2] His academic specialty is numerical optimization, and he is known for promoting diversity and broadening participation in computing, engineering and mathematics.
Schnabel joined the faculty of the University of Colorado Boulder as an assistant professor in the Department of Computer Science in 1977.
He remained at CU-Boulder for 30 years, becoming associate in 1980 and then full professor in 1988, chair of the Department of Computer Science in 1990, associate dean for academic affairs of the College of Engineering in 1995 and vice provost for academic and campus computing and chief information officer in 1998.
Schnabel was founding director of the Alliance for Technology, Learning and Society (ATLAS) Institute at the University of Colorado Boulder.
[5] Schnabel was Dean and Professor of the School of Informatics and Computing at Indiana University, a position he held from 2007 to 2015.