Associate dean for undergraduate and graduate studies hired in College of IST
Jeffrey Bardzell has been named associate dean for undergraduate and graduate studies in the College of Information Sciences and Technology, effective Aug. 1.
IST student awarded Erickson Discovery Grant to further Tumblr research
Courtney Smith, a rising Penn State junior studying security and risk analysis, recently received a 2020 Erickson Discovery Grant to further her research on parasocial relationships between 18- to 25-year-old Tumblr bloggers and celebrities.
Center for Security Research and Education announces seed grant awardees
The Center for Security Research and Education (CSRE) has selected 13 interdisciplinary projects through its spring 2020 seed grant program. CSRE is providing a total of $300,000 in funding for the projects, with an additional $300,000 in matching and supplemental funding from other colleges, departments, and institutes.
Initial COVID-19 infection rate may be 80 times greater than originally reported
A new study from Penn State tracked excess influenza-like illness data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to estimate that the number of early COVID-19 cases in the U.S. may have been more than 80 times greater and doubled nearly twice as fast as originally believed.
Bringing an international conference online
With the shift of the International Conference on Information and Communication Technologies and Development to a virtual format due to COVID-19, general chair Carleen Maitland led a team effort to bring the international conference online.
Two College of IST faculty members earn Amazon Research Awards
Professor James Wang and Assistant Professor Xinyu Xing — both from the College of Information Sciences and Technology — are among 51 computing experts representing 39 universities worldwide to receive 2019 Amazon Research Awards.
Understanding trade-offs between connectedness and online privacy during crises
A new grant is helping researchers explore how attitudes toward privacy change during times of crises, and whether oversharing has been expedited or even encouraged during the coronavirus pandemic.
IST seed grants support tech projects related to COVID-19
The College of Information Sciences and Technology recently announced six projects that will receive funding from the college’s seed grant program. Each project will take different approaches to tackle various challenges and needs related to the novel coronavirus pandemic.
Online tutor helps general public turn COVID-19 prevention efforts into action
Penn State researchers have developed a comprehensive online tutor to educate the general public about the science behind COVID-19 and appropriate steps anyone can take to help reduce its transmission.
IST professor receives Fulbright Cyber Security Award
Anna Squicciarini, associate professor of information sciences and technology, has received a Fulbright Cyber Security Award to conduct research in London in summer 2021.
Do privacy controls lead to more trust in Alexa? Not necessarily, research finds
Giving users of smart assistants the option to adjust settings for privacy or content delivery, or both, doesn’t necessarily increase their trust in the platform, according to a team of Penn State researchers. In fact, for some users, it could have an unfavorable effect.
Human and AI annotations aim to improve scholarly results in COVID-19 searches
Seed funding provided by the Huck Institute of the Life Sciences and the Institute for Computational and Data Science is supporting two research teams from the College of Information Sciences and Technology in their efforts to provide faster and more efficient search results to COVID-19 research queries.
Seed grants jump-start 47 interdisciplinary teams to conduct COVID-19 research
With speed and ingenuity, more than 100 researchers across Penn State are shifting their research programs to address the COVID-19 crisis, thanks to funding from a seed grant initiative led by the Huck Institutes of the Life Sciences.
Two IST doctoral students earn IBM Ph.D. Fellowships
Yueqi Chen and Wenbo Guo, both studying in the College of Information Sciences and Technology, are among 24 doctoral students worldwide who have been awarded 2020 IBM Ph.D. Fellowships.
Virtual tutors help train nursing students for trauma care
A new web-based tutor developed by researchers in the College of Information Sciences and Technology is helping nursing students earn clinically relevant exposure to trauma care concepts, training that can't occur in a clinical setting because of the novel coronavirus pandemic.
Teams’ technology tools may give researchers a boost in quest to stop COVID-19
Teams of Penn State data scientists and students, including ones led by the College of Information Sciences and Technology (IST) and the Applied Research Laboratory (ARL), recently developed tools that they hope will help researchers better understand — and potentially stop — the spread of the novel coronavirus, or COVID-19.
Research aims to help online workers build skills to advance their career paths
A new research project led by Benjamin Hanrahan, assistant professor of information sciences and technology, aims to enrich online platform workers and improve the marketplace for online work.
NSF CAREER Award work aims to reimagine algorithmic managers driving gig economy
Benjamin Hanrahan, assistant professor of information sciences and technology at Penn State, will explore how digital tools to automate and remotely manage workers may negatively impact those workers and their rights.
Two IST undergraduate researchers present at iConference
Two undergraduate researchers from the College of Information Sciences and Technology were invited to present their work in Boras, Sweden, this week at iConference 2020 — a forum through which information scholars, researchers and professionals share their insights on critical information issues in contemporary society.
Crowdsourcing plot lines to help the creative process
Creative authors could soon have a new option to help overcome writer’s block, thanks to a system launched by researchers in the College of Information Sciences and Technology at Penn State.
Women across IST at Penn State are creating a 'culture of empowerment'
The Penn State College of Information Sciences and Technology recently hosted a “Sit With Me” initiative, which was held as part of the global campaign powered by the National Center for Women & Information Technology to recognize and validate the important role women play in creating future technology.
Schreyer Honors scholar applies neural networks to better predict severe storms
As part of his honors thesis, a Penn State and Schreyer Honors student is researching data that could help increase preparation time for severe storm systems.
Profit-prediction system may lower suicide rates among indebted Indian farmers
Researchers from the College of Information Sciences and Technology are taking steps to address the alarming rate of suicides among indebted farmers in India, by developing a deep-learning algorithm as the first step in a decision-support system that could predict future market values of crops.
Improving qualitative data management by agencies responding to refugee crises
As of September 2019 there were approximately 330,000 Venezuelans that had fled to neighboring Ecuador amid an economic and political crisis in their home country.
Program to introduce undergrad researchers to machine learning in cybersecurity
Undergraduate students interested in machine learning in cybersecurity research activities are invited to apply to a new Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) Site program, to be hosted this summer at the College of Information Sciences and Technology.
New research center will focus on socially responsible artificial intelligence
Penn State has launched the Center for Socially Responsible Artificial Intelligence, a multi-unit research center that promotes the thoughtful development and application of AI and studies its impact on all areas of human endeavor.
Citizen scientists may be an untapped resource for water quality improvement
Raising awareness and offering technological tools to the thousands of citizens groups in the U.S. that monitor water quality might help community leaders tap these volunteers as a way to improve access to plentiful, clean water and possibly avoid water-related crises.
Penn State receives five-year $3.7 million grant to study virus evolution
The evolution of viruses will be the focus of a five-year, $3.7 million grant from the National Science Foundation’s new program on convergence research, to an interdisciplinary team led by Penn State. The grant is in two phases, depending on successful completion of phase one milestones.
Using machine learning to reduce traffic congestion
Researchers in Penn State's College of Information Sciences and Technology are advancing work that utilizes machine learning methods to improve traffic signal control at urban intersections around the world.
The impacts of automation and AI on the next WPSU 'Digging Deeper'
Penn State President Eric Barron and a pair of University experts will discuss the impacts of automation and artificial intelligence during the next episode of WPSU Penn State’s “Digging Deeper” on Sunday, Jan. 26.