The strength of the College of IST is demonstrated through the successes and accomplishments of its students, faculty, alumni, and programs. Read more about how the college and its people are driving innovative change and taking on the challenges of the Information Age.
If you have a story idea or questions about IST news, contact the Office of Marketing and Communications.
Lisa Lenze has been named associate dean for undergraduate studies in the College of Information Sciences and Technology, effective Aug. 1. She has served as the college’s director of Teaching, Learning and Assessment since 2019.
A new study by Penn State researchers suggests that giving users control over the interface feature of autoplay can help them realize that they are going down a rabbit hole of extreme content. The work — which the researchers said has implications for responsibly designing online content viewing platforms and algorithms, as well as helping users better recognize extreme content — is available online and will be published in the October issue of the International Journal of Human-Computer Stu
Penn State has once again been designated as a National Center of Academic Excellence in Cyber Defense for the College of Information Sciences and Technology's security and risk analysis major, information and cyber security option, program.
Cindy Brewer has been named associate dean for faculty affairs in the College of Information Sciences and Technology, effective Aug. 1. She has served as a faculty member in the Department of Geography in the College of Earth and Mineral Sciences since 1994, earning the rank of professor in 2007.
Human technology, such as smart voice assistants or computer-based intelligent tutoring systems, is largely based on standard American English and the misconception that there is a single, idealized variety of American English. This conflicts with the linguistic diversity of language users.
A $100,000 gift from Penn State Altoona alumnus Stephen Pace and his wife, Rita Pace, has endowed a new scholarship for students in the College of IST. The Pace Family Scholarship will support full-time IST undergraduate students who have demonstrated a financial need and are transitioning from a Penn State campus to University Park.
Combining artificial intelligence (AI) and online search engines may make AI more trustworthy and search results easier to use, according to Penn State researchers.
The work of Vasant Honavar, associate director of the Penn State Institute for Computational and Data Sciences, is driven by answering fundamental questions using machine learning. He has helped expand the institute's focus beyond high-performance computing into data sciences and artificial intelligence. As part of this expansion, Honavar launched the Penn State Center for Artificial Intelligence Foundations and Scientific Applications, which he currently leads.
The ability of a model to duplicate its performance is how machine learning (ML) scientists traditionally justify the validity of their research claims. But according to one graduate student in the College of Information Sciences and Technology (IST), this model performance replicability may not be enough to align ML with the goal of machine learning for social good.
C. Lee Giles, the David Reese Professor of Information Sciences and Technology, will retire from the Penn State College of Information Sciences and Technology, effective June 30. Giles will end his teaching career but continue to pursue his research and advise graduate students.
On May 19, U.S. soldiers and airmen with the Pennsylvania National Guard represented their units at the 28th Infantry Division Memorial Service at Boalsburg, Pennsylvania. Gold Star families, retired veterans and local residents attended the service, which is held each year to honor those who gave their lives to protect the nation.
The College of Information Sciences and Technology recently announced four new additions to its Dean’s Advisory Board: David Brannon, Greg Dracon, Karen Presley and Greg Roszyk. They join the 12-member board of Penn State alumni, friends and corporate leaders in providing strategic guidance and counsel to shape the future of the college. Each will serve a three-year term.
Four research teams have been awarded funding through Penn State’s Clinical and Translational Science Institute Seed Grant Program for 2024-25. The goal of this seed grant program is to establish collaborations needed to realize the promise and potential of artificial intelligence in biomedical and health research.
Where: Psychology Today, “AI Performance Enhances With Human Developmental Psychology”
Online stock trading communities can offer users loads of fun — and confusing financial advice for those unfamiliar with the community's language practice. Penn State News spoke with Yubo Kou and Xinning Gui, both assistant professors in Penn State’s College of Information Sciences and Technology, and doctoral student Sam Moradzadeh about their research into WallStreetBets, social investing and what retail investors should know before turning to social media for financial advice.
Thanks to the generosity of Penn State benefactors Gene and Roz Chaiken, the College of Information Sciences and Technology is gaining a new student success center.
The College of Information Sciences and Technology sent five faculty members and more than 20 graduate students and recent alumni to the Association of Computing Machinery Conference on Human Factors in Computer Systems in Hawaii. The conference accepted 15 full papers and seven late-breaking works, the most ever for the college.
Romit Maulik, Penn State Institute for Computational and Data Sciences co-hire and assistant professor in the College of Information Sciences and Technology, is a co-author on a study that won the best paper award at the Tackling Climate Chance with Machine Learning Workshop at the International Conference on Learning Representations.
The Chaikens have once again made a landmark contribution to the University. While the amount of the gift is not being disclosed publicly, it will make them the second-largest donors in Penn State history. The gift extends their impact beyond the College of the Liberal Arts and builds upon and extends existing academic support services.
Peng Liu has been reappointed as the Raymond G. Tronzo, MD Professor in Cybersecurity. The professorship is named for late Penn State alumnus Raymond G. Tronzo and is funded through a $1 million gift from his wife, Diana.
Liu was the inaugural recipient of this honor in 2018. This three-year appointment renewal will enable him to continue his important cybersecurity research and leadership.
Priya Kumar, assistant professor in the Penn State College of Information Sciences and Technology, has been awarded the college’s PNC Technologies Career Development Professorship, effective July 1. The endowed position helps to attract and retain outstanding faculty who can make significant contributions to the college, Penn State and the world through their research and interactions with students.
The Haile Family Early Career Professorship in Information Sciences and Technology has been awarded to Yubo Kou, assistant professor in the College of Information Sciences and Technology at Penn State, effective July 1, 2024, through June 30, 2027.
Eleven interdisciplinary research teams have been awarded funding through Penn State's Institute of Energy and the Environment’s Seed Grant Program for 2024.
When double-majoring, it’s not easy to find an internship that fits both majors — especially when they’re as different as film production and information sciences and technology. Penn State senior Shreya Narsinghani found one this summer just a short bike ride away.
The Computing Research Association has selected Shomir Wilson, assistant professor in the Penn State College of IST, to participate in the new Future CRA Leaders Program.
A novel, human-inspired approach to training artificial intelligence (AI) systems to identify objects and navigate their surroundings could set the stage for the development of more advanced AI systems to explore extreme environments or distant worlds, according to new research from an interdisciplinary team at Penn State.
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Seven tenure-line and one non-tenure-line faculty members from the College of Information Sciences and Technology are among the academic promotions at Penn State, effective July 1, 2024.
The following individuals have been promoted to associate professor and awarded tenure:
In collaboration with Penn State Global, Nick Giacobe, associate teaching professor in the College of Information Sciences and Technology (IST), will travel to Kazakhstan to meet with cybersecurity students, faculty, researchers and leadership.
Shomir Wilson, assistant professor in the College of Information Sciences and Technology (IST), has been selected as a participant in the Fall 2024 Penn State Emerging Academic Leaders (PSEAL) program.
Where: Onward State, “Retired Marine to Professor: How Colonel Jake Graham Has Immersed Himself in Penn State Community”
Who: Col. Jake Graham, USMC (Ret), professor of practice in the College of IST
"Research Art Collection" is on display in the Office of Senior Vice President for Research on the third floor in Old Main at University Park. The exhibit showcases the art of research and the research of art and is open to the public.
Dongwon Lee, professor in the Penn State College of Information Sciences and Technology, discussed the importance of examining the integrity of AI-generated text found online.
The Applied Research Laboratory at Penn State has awarded a Walker Graduate Assistantship to Hope Stylios, a graduate student majoring in cybersecurity analytics and operations in the College of Information Sciences and Technology.
Teams from the Competitive Cyber Security Organization in the Penn State College of IST won first and third place at the 2024 Social Engineering Competition at Temple University.
Penn State’s Center for Socially Responsible Artificial Intelligence announced the winners of its first-ever “Fake-a-thon.” The competition, held April 1-5, invited Penn Staters to use generative AI tools like ChatGPT to create fake news stories that then underwent scrutiny for clues during the two-part challenge.
Where: Altoona Mirror, “Ripple effect: Local agencies ramp up security after state, national cyberattacks on water supplies”
Who: David Hozza, assistant teaching professor in the College of IST
The Penn State College of IST held its first capstone showcase on April 26 in the Westgate Building at University Park. The event was co-sponsored by the IST Alumni Society Board.
Lee Giles, David Reese Professor of Information Sciences and Technology, and Jack Carroll, distinguished professor, were included in the Research.com 2023 Ranking of Best Scientists in Computer Science, published earlier this month.
Professor Dongwon Lee, acting interim associate dean for research and director of doctoral programs in the College of IST, participated in a virtual National Academies workshop on April 11.
A story by Sanjana Gautam, a doctoral student of informatics in the College of IST, appeared in Medium on April 27.
Six Penn State student teams using artificial intelligence for good to solve real-world problems were selected by a panel of judges to share a prize pool of $17,000 to continue to develop their projects further as winners of the 2024 Nittany AI Challenge.
IST Alumni Society Board member Madison Oliver won the Rising Star Award at the 2024 CIO of the Year Awards from the Pittsburgh Technology Council.
As part of our regular "We Are!" feature, we recognize 16 Penn Staters who have gone above and beyond what’s asked of them in their work at the University.
The inaugural Penn State AI Week event brought students, staff and faculty across the University together through a poster session, workshops, contests and panel discussions to discuss artificial intelligence in academia and around the world.
A $20 million grant from the U.S. National Science Foundation will support the establishment and operation of the National Synthesis Center for Emergence in the Molecular and Cellular Sciences at Penn State. The center will enable research that uses existing, publicly available data to glean new insights about how complex biological systems, such as cells, emerge from simpler molecules.
Carolyn “Tomi” Oluwaseun-Apo, a fourth-year student majoring in human-centered design and development in the College of IST, earned an honorable mention for the University Libraries Undergraduate Research Award: Excellence in Information Literacy. She received a cash prize for her poster, “A Smarter Mirror for a Smarter Student: Designing a Smart Mirror for Student Productivity and Well-Being.”
For the first time, the College of IST sent students to the national Women in Cybersecurity (WiCyS) Conference. The event was held April 11-13 at the Gaylord Opryland Resort in Nashville, and student attendance was funded by IST’s Office of Student Engagement The annual WiCyS Conference welcomes cybersecurity professionals, students and organizations, according to its website.
Where: WTAJ-TV, Penn State students showcase AI at All-Sports Museum.
Who: Students from the College of IST’s entrepreneurship and innovation, led by associate teaching professor Betsy Campbell.
Andrea Tapia has been named the permanent dean of the Penn State College of Information Sciences and Technology, effective May 1. Tapia has held the role in an interim capacity since August 2023.
Hillmer Chona, a master’s degree student in the Penn State College of Information Sciences and Technology, was invited by the Devnexus Conference to serve as a panelist at the Java Users Group Leaders Summit in Atlanta.