December 17, 2024
Ten SCI faculty members received Pitt Cyber Accelerator Grants (PCAG) for Fall 2024, with involvement in all but one of the awarded projects. PCAG provides initial funding for multidisciplinary projects that advance Pitt Cyber’s mission of using the breadth of the university’s knowledge to address critical questions around network, data, and algorithms with a focus on law, policy, and technology.
SCI faculty received PCAGs for the following projects:
Identifying and Analyzing Influencer Marketing of Pharmaceutical Products on Social Media
This project aims to ultimately inform better policies for pharmaceutical advertising through detecting and analyzing pharmaceutical influencer marketing on social media.
- Ryan Shi (assistant professor, Department of Computer Science)
- Michael Yoder (teaching assistant professor, SCI)
- Olga Kravchenko (assistant professor, Family Medicine)
Piloting Informal Learning Experiences through Game Prototyping on the Consequences of Quantum Technologies
This project seeks to foster early interest in quantum computing in Pittsburgh high school students and engage with them on the societal implications of increased computing power through game prototyping and informal learning experiences.
- Raquel Coelho (assistant professor, Department of Informatics and Networked Systems)
- Junyu Liu (assistant professor, Department of Computer Science)
- Ahmed Ibrahim (teaching associate professor, Department of Informatics and Networked Systems)
- Dmitriy Babichenko (clinical associate professor, Department of Informatics and Networked Systems)
- Chris Schunn (professor, Department of Psychology and Intelligent Systems Program)
Examining Privacy Practices and Adaptations in Health Research Following the 2023 NIH Data Sharing Policy
Using document analysis and interviews, this project will explore how health researchers are adapting to the 2023 NIH Data Sharing and Management policy, identifying challenges, strategies, and gaps to provide actionable recommendations.
- Aakash Gautam (assistant professor, departments of Computer Science and Information Culture & Data Stewardship)
- Amin Rahimian (assistant professor, Swanson School of Engineering and Intelligent Systems Program)
Exploring the Societal Impacts of Wireless Technology Evolution & Obsolescence
This project will examine the unstudied cultural, political, and economic effects of sunsetting wireless technologies and refarming radio spectrum.
- Frances Correy (assistant professor, Department of Information Culture & Data Stewardship)
- Prashant Krishnamurthy (professor, Department of Informatics and Networked Systems)
Hemispheric Headspace Extension
A collaborative project between faculty at the Centre for Humanities Research at the University of Western Cape and Pitt, this project seeks to open further discussions around ethical concerns associated with the use of machine learning and AI tools for archival building, valuation, digitization, and data mining of archival materials.
- Eleanor Mattern (director, Sara Fine Institute; teaching assistant professor, Department of Information Culture & Data Stewardship)
- Jennifer Keating (teaching professor & writing in the disciplines specialist, William S. Dietrich II Institute for Writing Excellence)
- Valmont Layne (New Visions Archivist, University of Western Cape, The Centre for Humanities Research)
Please join us in congratulating these faculty members on this achievement!