Three recent grants from the National Science Foundation (NSF) feature SCI faculty members. Ranging in subject area from data literacy to the study of spectrum and wireless systems to analysis of social inequality, these projects reveal the breadth and depth of SCI faculty’s research.
Department of Informatics and Networked Systems (DINS) Associate Professor Rosta Farzan is the Principal Investigator (PI) of a $593K NSF Cyberlearning for Work at the Human-Technology Frontier award titled “From Data Literacy to Collective Data Stewardship: Technology-Supported Community-Driven Solutions for Urban Youth.” Computer Science Associate Professor Erin Walker and School of Social Work Associate Professor Jaime Booth serve as co-PIs. This project will equip members of two economically challenged and marginalized neighborhoods of Pittsburgh with the skills to use big data to address community problems. After-school programs focused on data literacy will encourage young people to become involved in civic engagement and also help them compete in a job market that is increasingly dominated by Information and Computational Technology industries.
DINS Professor Martin Weiss is co-PI of an NSF Spectrum Innovation Initiative planning grant titled “Creating a Visionary, Interdisciplinary, and Transformational National Center for Spectrum and Wireless Systems Research.” This project will be led by the University of Colorado and is focused on facilitating efficient use and sharing of the radio spectrum as the demands of wireless systems continue to grow. A group called the Wireless Innovation and Spectrum Evolution (WISE) will bring together various stakeholders from academia, the federal government, and industry to identify key challenges to address in spectrum research.
Computer Science Professor Panos Chrysanthis and DINS Professor Vladimir Zadorozhny are co-PIs of a $408K NSF Security & Preparedness award titled “Tracking Horizontal Inequalities Across Dimensions to Forecast and Understand Instability (TrIAD).” Political Science Professor Michael Colaresi serves as PI for this project. This project is focused on bringing together scholars from the social, information, and computer sciences to track group-based grievances about access to rights and resources, or horizontal inequalities. TrIAD will use PULSAR, a human rights text parser, to extract structured information from human rights documents and identify perpetuators and victims.
Please join us in congratulating our faculty on these exciting projects!