People open up more to smart speakers that listen actively
December 16, 2022
Adding random, short expressions of understanding in a conversation may turn smart speakers, such as Alexa and Siri, into robot therapists that allow people to open up more without violating their privacy, according to a team of researchers.
Researchers propose methods for automatic detection of doxing
December 9, 2022
A new automated approach to detect doxing — a form of cyberbullying in which certain private or personally identifiable information is publicly shared without an individual's consent or knowledge — may help social media platforms better protect their users, according to researchers from Penn Stat
Novel 3D imaging model may show path to more water-efficient plants
December 9, 2022
A new computational pipeline for analyzing three-dimensional imaging data can help biologists more accurately and quickly see how the cells in a plant’s leaves respond to the environment and identify plants that more efficiently use water, according to researchers.
On the Bridge — December 2022
November 30, 2022
A compilation of recent news, highlights, and achievements from the College of Information Sciences and Technology community.
New coding tool could aid computer programmers who are blind or have low vision
November 1, 2022
A new tool could help make code reading, navigating and editing more accessible and efficient for blind and low-vision computer programmers, according to Penn State researchers.
IST student diversifies wearable tech health data apps through Google internship
October 26, 2022
This summer, Penn State College of Information Sciences and Technology doctoral student Sahiti Kunchay put her knowledge and skills to the test as a research intern at Google.
AI language models show bias against people with disabilities, study finds
October 13, 2022
The algorithms that drive natural language processing technology — a type of artificial intelligence that allows machines to use text and spoken words in many different applications — often have tendencies that could be offensive or prejudiced toward individuals with disabilities, according to re
IST doctoral student named Scholar of Sexology Fellow by Kinsey Institute
September 12, 2022
Mia Hua, a Penn State College of Information Sciences and Technology doctoral student, is the recent recipient of a competitive Scholars of Sexology Fellowship from the Kinsey Institute — a renowned source at Indiana University for critical issues in sexuality, gender and reproduction.
Aspiring professor pursues dual IST graduate degrees
September 2, 2022
By the time Antonio Girona receives his doctorate degree, which he expects to earn in 2025, he will have been a student in the Penn State College of Information Sciences and Technology (IST) for more than a decade.
Deepfakes expose vulnerabilities in certain facial recognition technology
August 11, 2022
Mobile devices use facial recognition technology to help users quickly and securely unlock their phones, make a financial transaction or access medical records.
IST intern aids in SiriusXM/Pandora user experience research
July 27, 2022
Through a summer internship with SiriusXM/Pandora, Renkai Ma is studying how music listeners and creators interact with the company’s product features.
Sharing source-backed information can help reduce COVID-19 misinformation online
June 9, 2022
If you see fake news about COVID-19 circulating on your social media feeds, say something — if you have a reliable source to back it up.
26-year-old IST student to earn second doctorate this spring
May 5, 2022
This weekend, as thousands of Penn Staters earn their degrees, one 26-year-old graduate of the College of Information Sciences and Technology will be presented with not her first, but second, doctorate.
Tech designed to aid visually impaired could benefit from human-AI collaboration
April 19, 2022
Remote sighted assistance technology — which connects visually impaired individuals with human agents through a live video call on their smartphones — helps people with low or no vision navigate tasks that require sight.
Using tweets to predict real-time food shortages
April 11, 2022
The sentiments and emotions expressed in tweets on Twitter can be used in real time to assess where supply chain disruptions due to a pandemic, war or natural disaster may lead to food shortages, according to researchers at Penn State and the Hamad Bin Khalifa University in Qatar.
New model could have ‘Moneyball’-like impact on baseball players’ value
April 5, 2022
In the movie “Moneyball,” a young economics graduate and a cash-strapped Major League Baseball general manager introduce a new way to evaluate baseball players’ value.
Facial recognition tech in public could yield perceptions of workplace fairness
March 3, 2022
Many people use facial recognition technology on their personal devices, to quickly and securely enter a password or complete an online transaction.
Insights from Experts: COVID-19 and the mental health of essential workers
February 24, 2022
Johnna Blair, IST doctoral candidate at Penn State, is investigating how essential workers used Twitter during the COVID-19 pandemic to connect with others about shared experiences, from coping with mental health conditions to voicing workplace concerns.
Doctoral student draws on IST skills in startup for AI-driven diagnostic tool
February 23, 2022
Thanh Le, doctoral student in the College of Information Sciences and Technology, and his fellow Moichor co-founders are setting out to change old-school veterinary diagnostics through their software that uses artificial intelligence and machine learning to leverage data-driven image learning to
IST grad student intern applies data science skills in construction industry
December 3, 2021
As a College of Information Sciences and Technology student pursuing a master’s degree in informatics, Kristen Williams had the opportunity this past summer to apply what she’s learned through her concentration in data science in a summer internship in the construction manufacturing industry.
Fostering community across geographically dispersed university campuses
October 21, 2021
Many U.S. universities comprise a main campus and several branch campuses distributed throughout the state. Researchers in the College of Information Sciences and Technology investigated whether students at these various campuses feel that they belong to a unified university community.
What was really the secret behind Van Gogh's success?
October 4, 2021
Before developing his famed “drip technique,” abstract artist Jackson Pollock dabbled in drawing, print making and surrealist paintings of humans, animals and nature.
New tool fuses expert knowledge and deep learning features to detect sleep apnea
September 30, 2021
Individuals who suspect they have sleep apnea — and the doctors who diagnose them — could soon have more effective way to automatically detect the condition at home, thanks to a new method developed by researchers at the Penn State College of Information Sciences and Technology.
COVID-19 study aims to make local policy announcements more culturally dependent
September 8, 2021
Researchers from the Penn State College of Information Sciences and Technology recently studied a new form of crisis information exchange that has emerged between geographically dispersed areas to facilitate local crisis responses during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Honor code established at College of IST
August 20, 2021
The College of Information Sciences and Technology, in collaboration with IST student government, announced the launch of the IST Honor Code.
Penn State Berks takes first place in the Anthem AI hackathon
August 19, 2021
The Penn State Berks Data Lions team recently took first place in the Anthem AI ‘Substance Use Disorder and Whole Health of the Person’ Hackathon, a competition to identify risk factors related to substance use, and conditions indicative of underlying substance abuse.
Counting pandemic behaviors to inform public health decisions
August 10, 2021
The COVID-19 pandemic has brought many significant changes to people's lives, but one of the most visible signals of this has been the proliferation of masks and other face-coverings in public spaces.
Honeypot security technique can also stop attacks in natural language processing
July 28, 2021
As online fake news detectors and spam filters become more sophisticated, so do attackers’ methods to trick them — including attacks through the “universal trigger.” In this learning-based method, an attacker uses a phrase or set of words to fool an indefinite number of inputs, which could lead t
Networking and collaboration lead to best paper award for IST doctoral student
July 15, 2021
At the College of Information Sciences and Technology, doctoral student Jeongwon Jo has benefited from having access to an interdisciplinary network of experts and scholars to help advance her research.
Women and lower-education users more likely to tweet personal information
July 7, 2021
When it comes to what users share on Twitter, women and users who never attended college voluntarily disclose more personal information than users from other socioeconomic and demographic backgrounds — potentially making these populations more susceptible to online privacy threats, according to a
IST research well-represented at top Communities and Technologies conference
June 22, 2021
A research group from the Penn State College of Information Sciences and Technology is well-represented at the virtual 10th International Conference on Communities and Technology, which began June 21.
Treating non-humans as stakeholders key to sustainable technologies
June 11, 2021
Researchers from the Penn State College of Information Sciences and Technology made a methodological contribution toward a potential answer to the challenging problem of how to operationalize posthuman concepts into practice for human-computer interaction through the art of noticing — specificall
Essential workers' tweets show surprising positivity during pandemic
June 9, 2021
During the COVID-19 pandemic, essential workers tweeted less often than general users about COVID-19 but more about overall mental health issues, according to researchers at the Penn State College of Information Sciences and Technology.
Doctoral candidate aims to help international students attain higher education
May 25, 2021
As a child growing up in Nepal, Bikalpa Neupane never thought he would come to the U.S. for a college education, much less a graduate degree.
IST experience leads to alumnus’ work exploring breakups in the digital age
April 30, 2021
After a romantic breakup, there are often decisions to be made regarding the partners’ shared possessions, such as who takes the house and who gets the cat, and who keeps the friends.
After change of course, IST alumnus lands career in academics
April 28, 2021
When Porter Jenkins came to Penn State to pursue a doctorate in marketing, he never imagined he’d one day have a full-time career in academics, teaching and conducting research on data sciences and machine learning.
Amazon Alexa skill offers supportive care to breast cancer patients
April 27, 2021
Penn State researchers have developed an Amazon Alexa skill to remotely deliver validated interventions to metastatic breast cancer patients in the comfort of their own homes.
Explanations in online symptom checkers could improve user trust
April 15, 2021
Have you recently turned to your mobile device or computer to find out if your cough, sniffle or fever could be caused by COVID-19?
IST researchers' book teaches how to build better complex systems interfaces
March 24, 2021
In a new book, "Building Better Interfaces for Remote Autonomous Systems: An Introduction for Systems Engineers," authors from the College of Information Sciences and Technology present a broad review of important design frameworks and concepts of human-computer interaction so that syst
New machine learning model could remove bias from social network connections
March 10, 2021
Did you ever wonder how social networking applications like Facebook and LinkedIn make recommendations on the people you should friend or pages you should follow?
Penn State IST course teaches theory behind COVID-19 public health guidelines
March 8, 2021
Wash your hands. Stay six feet apart. Wear a mask. These are the messages that have been conveyed by public health officials for the past year to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus.
Researchers test detection methods for AI-generated content
February 5, 2021
In an effort to combat malicious use of artificial intelligence text generators—for example, an adversary generating fake news to share on social media—researchers at the College of Information Sciences and Technology analyzed eight different state-of-the-art natural language generators to identi
IST course aims to build impactful user-friendly tech
February 2, 2021
Helping users interact with information technology in a way that could potentially impact the world was the objective of a semester-long fall project in HCI: The User and Technology, a graduate level course in the College of Information Sciences and Technology.
Pandemic survey points to design improvements for future remote learning
January 27, 2021
Last March, the sudden onset of the COVID-19 pandemic severely impacted university operations around the world. Students and instructors quickly transitioned to remote education, demonstrating reliance on new technologies that may have otherwise never been used.
Penn State researchers co-author book teaching 'Skills to Obstruct Pandemics'
January 15, 2021
A team led by Penn State faculty and students, along with expert collaborators, has co-authored a guide that teaches the essential knowledge and skills to help interrupt the transmission of COVID-19 and other infections.
Study suggests smart assistant design improvements for deaf users
January 7, 2021
Despite the inherent challenges that voice-interaction may create, researchers recently found that deaf and hard-of-hearing users regularly use smart assistants like Amazon’s Alexa and Apple’s Siri in homes, workplaces and mobile devices — highlighting a clear need for more inclusive design.
Canevez named 2020 Computing Innovation Fellow
December 8, 2020
Richard Canevez, a doctoral student in the College of Information Sciences and Technology at Penn State, has been named to the 2020 Class of Computing Innovation Fellows by the Computing Research Association (CRA) and its Computing Community Consortium (CCC).
Researchers study influence of cultural factors on gesture design
November 30, 2020
Imagine changing the TV channel with a wave of your hand or turning on the car radio with a twist of your wrist.
AI model could help patients predict disease risk with electronic health records
November 5, 2020
Electronic health records contain critical information for both medical providers and patients. But these records also contain information that could interfere with an artificial intelligence algorithm’s ability to predict patients’ risk for future disease.
Tricking fake news detectors with malicious user comments
October 30, 2020
New research from a team at Penn State’s College of Information Sciences and Technology shows how fake news detectors can be manipulated through user comments to flag true news as false and false news as true, even if the adversary is not the story’s original author.