News
SCI Faculty Receive Grant to Study Robots in Math Classrooms
Erin Walker, associate professor in the School of Computing and Information (SCI) and research scientist in the Learning Research and Development Center (LRDC), has been named principal investigator for a $900,000 National Science Foundation grant to study the use of robots in middle school math classrooms.
Malihe Alikhani Awarded Google ExploreCSR Grant
SCI Assistant Professor Malihe Alikhani was recently awarded a Google exploreCSR grant to encourage computer research among undergraduate students from underrepresented groups. The exploreCSR program funds faculty from 50 institutions around the world to host computer science workshops.
Pitt Joins National Alliance Aimed at Developing a More Inclusive and Diverse STEM Faculty
The University of Pittsburgh has been selected as one of 19 universities joining a three-year institutional change effort to develop inclusive faculty recruitment, hiring and retention practices.
The Aspire: The National Alliance for Inclusive & Diverse STEM Faculty program is administered by the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities (APLU) and is funded by the National Science Foundation as part of its INCLUDES initiative.
SCI Alum Receives Machine Learning Scholarship
SCI alum Coral Sheldon-Hess was recently accepted into the Machine Learning Scholarship Program for Microsoft Azure. This Nanodegree program introduces students with programming knowledge to machine learning via Azure, a cloud computing service created for building, testing, deploying, and managing applications and services. Participants strengthen machine learning skills by building sophisticated machine learning models, such as time series forecasting and hyper parameter tuning. The recipients of this scholarship were selected as the top 300 students of a foundations cou
SCI Alumna Publishes Book Offering Guidance for Librarians
SCI alumna Tina Buck recently published a book offering practical advice to librarians hoping to transition into a different type or size of institution. The book, titled Guidance for Librarians Transitioning to a New Environment, is published by Routledge and co-written with Sara Duff. The authors draw on their own experience as well as surveys and interviews to cover such topics as how librarians can orient themselves to their new library, add conte
SCI Professor and Student Receive Amazon Research Award
Earlier this spring, Amazon announced that SCI professor Daqing He and his doctoral student Rui Meng were awarded an Amazon Research Award -- among 51 researchers representing 39 universities worldwide -- in support of their project “Transferable, Controllable, Applicable Keyphrase Generation.”
Adam J. Lee Promoted to Full Professorship
SCI faculty member Dr. Adam J. Lee has been promoted to the rank of full professor. He joined the Department of Computer Science in the fall of 2008 and has also served as the Associate Dean for Academic Programs at SCI.
Meet SCI's New Faculty: Rebecca Morris
Name: Rebecca Morris
Title: Teaching Associate Professor
Department: Information Culture and Data Stewardship
SCI Faculty Receive National Science Foundation Award to Study How Robots Affect Learning
SCI faculty members recently received a National Science Foundation (NSF) Award to study the impact robots can have on middle school students’ learning. The project, titled “Designing Effective Dialogue, Gaze, and Gesture Behaviors in a Social Robot that Supports Collaborative Learning in Middle School Mathematics,” will be led by SCI Associate Professor Erin Walker as Principal Investigator, with SCI Professor Diane Litman, SCI Assistant Professor Adriana I.
Meet SCI's New Faculty: Xiaowei Jia
Name: Xiaowei Jia
Title: Assistant Professor
Department: Computer Science
Associate Professor Yu-Ru Lin Featured in National Geographic Article about COVID-19
SCI Associate Professor Yu-Ru Lin was recently featured in an article by National Geographic titled "Why our minds can't make sense of COVID-19's enormous death toll." The story explores the difficulty people have in processing the increasing death toll of the coronavirus and offers methods that can help people understand the impact of the pandemic and take positive action. Here is an excerpt:
Meet SCI's New Faculty: Ahmed Ibrahim
Name: Ahmed Ibrahim
Title: Assistant Professor
Department: Informatics and Networked Systems
Bio:
Ahmed is an Assistant Professor (Appointment Stream) in the Department of Informatics and Networked Systems. He received his Ph.D. in Computer Science from the University of Kentucky in 2016. He also holds two M.Sc. degrees in Computer Science, one from the University of Kentucky in 2014 and one from Egypt in 2009.
Dr. Chelsea Gunn: Preserving a shared digital memory
September 18, 2020
Meet SCI's New Faculty: Chelsea Gunn
Name: Chelsea Gunn
Title: Teaching Assistant Professor
Department: Information Culture and Data Stewardship