News
Crowning achievements: Victoria Chuah ‘22G on her multifaceted SCI experience
September 22, 2022
Victoria Chuah (‘21, ‘22G) is a hard worker with or without a crown.
Minority Association in Computing Student Organization Sets Out to Create An Inclusive Environment at SCI
This academic year, the Minority Association in Computing (MAC) is working hard to create a community where all new and returning SCI students feel celebrated and supported.
A relatively new student organization within the School of Computing and Information, MAC recently changed its name from Underrepresented Minorities in Computing (UMC) to have a name that “more directly expressed [their] mission and goals.”
SCI Ranking for Undergraduate CS Program Jumped in U.S. News & World Report Best Colleges Rankings
SCI’s undergraduate computer science program ranked No. 54 in the 2022-2023 U.S. News & World Report Best Colleges rankings, six spots higher than last year.
Pitt ranked highly in several other categories, including undergraduate nursing (No. 15), undergraduate business (No. 34), and best universities for veterans (No. 34).
SCI Kicks Off 5th Year Anniversary
On August 30, 2022, faculty and staff of the School of Computing and Information (SCI) gathered to celebrate the official start to the school’s 5th Year Anniversary celebration.
SCI Announces New Joint Major with Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences
The School of Computing and Information (SCI) is excited to announce the launch of a new joint major for undergraduate students! The Physics and Quantum Computing major is a joint program between the School of Computing and Information and the Kenneth P. Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences. This major offers students training in physics studies and computer science fluency necessary to bridge the gap in efforts to build quantum machines and in quantum information.
SCI Graduate Students, Faculty Member Win Best Paper Award at UAI 2022
SCI Graduate Students Anthony Sicilia and Katherine Atwell, as well as Dr. Malihe Alikhani, an assistant professor in the Department of Computer Science, and Dr. Seong Jae Hwang, an assistant professor at Yonsei University, won the Best Paper Award at the 2022 Conference on Uncertainty in Artificial Intelligence (UAI).
Prof. Peter Brusilovsky leads $2M NSF infrastructure effort
Professor Peter Brusilovsky, faculty member with the Department of Informatics and Networked Systems, has recently been awarded $658,799 as part of a $2 million collaboration research effort between Carnegie Mellon University, North Carolina State University, and Virginia Tech.
CS Graduate Student, Faculty Members Win Best Student Paper Award at ACM UMAP 2022
Nhat Tran, a Computer Science graduate student, received the James Chen Best Student Paper Award alongside Drs. Malihe Alikhani and Diane Litman, faculty members in the Department of Computer Science, at the 2022 ACM Conference on User Modeling, Adaptation and Personalization (UMAP).
Teaching and Small Grants Project Aims for “Ethical Competence” in Machine Learning and AI
A new collaboration between the Department of Informatics and Networked Systems (DINS) and the Department of Computer Science (CS) has set its sights on cultivating “ethical competence”, diversity and inclusion, and assessing usability of the AI models in machine learning and artificial intelligence fields.
SCI Welcomes Six New Faculty Members
During the 2021-2022 academic year, the School of Computing and Information (SCI) conducted a rigorous faculty search and met with many esteemed colleagues and candidates. Now, the School is excited to announce six new faculty members that will continue SCI’s mission of supporting discovery, innovation and entrepreneurship driven by data and technology.
Please join us in welcoming the incoming faculty to the SCI community!
DINS Faculty Members Receive NSA/NSF Grant for GenCyber@Pitt Program
Dr. Ahmed Ibrahim, a teaching assistant professor in the Department of Informatics and Networked Systems (DINS), and Dr. Balaji Palanisamy, an associate professor in DINS, received an award from the National Security Agency (NSA) and National Science Foundation (NSF) to host the GenCyber@Pitt program in Summer 2023.
Teaching and Mentoring Small Grants Project Aims to Address Lack of Diversity in Cybersecurity
Cybersecurity is a rapidly expanding field, with a global projection of 3.5 million unfilled cybersecurity jobs by 2025 and a current growth rate of more than double the entire employment market’s rate in the U.S.
Yet the field continues to lack diversity: Only 4% of the IT security workforce in the U.S. identifies as Hispanic, 8% as Asian, and 9% as Black. Additionally, only 24% of identify as women.
PhD student Pranut Jain receives honorable mention for paper at DIS 2022
Pranut Jain, a PhD student in the Department of Computer Science, received an honorable mention award for his paper “Laila is in a Meeting: Design and Evaluation of a Contextual Auto-Response Messaging Agent” at the 2022 ACM SIGCHI Conference on Designing Interactive Systems (DIS). His paper focuses on generating auto-responses to text messages using smartphone sensors when someone may not be able to respond to a message.
Insights from IKM Architecture into SCI's new 130 N. Bellefield space
As the School of Computing and Information (SCI) community prepares for the exciting opening of the school's new space at 130 N. Bellefield, learn more about the process that went into designing the renovated area to meet SCI's visions and goals thanks to IKM Architecture.
Dr. Xulong Tang receives NSF grant
Dr. Xulong Tang, an assistant professor with the Department of Computer Science, received a three-year grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF). His research focuses on deep neural networks (DNNs), a machine-learning technique, and how to train DNNs using fewer computing resources and less time.