Novel 3D imaging model may show path to more water-efficient plants
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.
IST faculty, students develop digital solutions to help mushroom farmers
A team of researchers at Penn State is aiming to speed up and streamline the collection of important environmental data that impacts the mushroom farming industry through a new digital solution.
On the Bridge — December 2022
A compilation of recent news, highlights, and achievements from the College of Information Sciences and Technology community.
Penn State and Taipei Tech sign memorandums of understanding
Penn State hosted a delegation from the National Taipei University of Technology on Oct. 16-18. During the delegation’s visit, the delegation met with Penn State faculty and administrators, and President Neeli Bendapudi and Taipei Tech President Sea-Fue Wang signed two memoranda of understanding between the two universities.
High-tech tool to perform low-cost health screening for newborns and mothers
A new, $1.9 million grant from the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering will allow Penn State researchers to develop artificial intelligence-based software that can evaluate the health of a newborn and their mother with only a photograph of the baby’s placenta.
Grant to explore using computers to help groups make better decisions
National Science Foundation grants to Penn State and Iowa State could lead to an interactive, computer-aided, decision-support tool that can help groups of people make better choices.
NSF grant to help reimagine first-year experiences through diverse lens
A Penn State research team aims to meet the unique needs of increasingly diverse student bodies by reimagining first-year learning experiences in technology-related degree programs at U.S. universities, thanks to a new $296,804 grant from the National Science Foundation.
New coding tool could aid computer programmers who are blind or have low vision
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
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.
Researchers to use $1.2 million grant to study early Alzheimer’s detection
A team of Penn State-led researchers received a $1.2 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to help fund a project to develop a machine learning system for early Alzheimer’s disease detection.
IST’s Anna Squicciarini named cyberspace program director at NSF
Anna Squicciarini, Frymoyer Chair in Information Sciences and Technology, has been named a program director in the Secure and Trustworthy Cyberspace cluster of the National Science Foundation, effective Sept. 26.
AI language models show bias against people with disabilities, study finds
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 researchers at the Penn State College of Information
Project aims to use artificial intelligence to turn health data into predictions
A $599,883 grant from the National Science Foundation could help scientists use machine learning algorithms to use large amounts of data to guide decisions on a range of issues, from disease spread to economic meltdowns to social unrest.
Center for Socially Responsible AI accepting seed funding proposals
Penn State’s Center for Socially Responsible Artificial Intelligence is inviting short proposals for its annual seed funding program. Applications will be accepted through Nov. 1, with projects expected to start in spring 2023 and last for up to two years.
IST doctoral student named Scholar of Sexology Fellow by Kinsey Institute
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.
Art history, IST receive grant to continue collaborative research project
The collaborative research project conducted by the Department of Art History and the College of Information Sciences and Technology, titled “After Constable’s Clouds,” is Phase 2 of “Seeing Constable’s Clouds,” which was supported by a level 1 National Endowment for the Humanities grant.
Deepfakes expose vulnerabilities in certain facial recognition technology
Mobile devices use facial recognition technology to help users quickly and securely unlock their phones, make a financial transaction or access medical records.
College of IST professor earns fourth consecutive Amazon Research Award
James Wang, distinguished professor in the Penn State College of Information Sciences and Technology, has received an Amazon Research Award to advance his team's work on machine learning-based, emotion modeling that is geared toward enhancing the interaction between humans and artificial intelligence (AI) in day-to-day activities.
Good, bad, fair: New algorithms could help fairly distribute goods or chores
When organizations need to divvy up indivisible items among multiple parties with different needs and preferences, how can they ensure that everyone gets their fair share?
Sharing source-backed information can help reduce COVID-19 misinformation online
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. You could help other users to be less susceptible to misinformation, according to a new study by researchers at the Penn State College of Information Sciences and Technology.
Real-time, accurate virus detection method could help fight next pandemic
A method of highly accurate and sensitive virus identification using Raman spectroscopy, a portable virus capture device and machine learning could enable real-time virus detection and identification to help battle future pandemics, according to a team of researchers led by Penn State.
IST assistant professor Hadi Hosseini receives NSF CAREER award
Hadi Hosseini, assistant professor in the Penn State College of Information Sciences and Technology, is the recipient of a 2022 Faculty Early Career Development award from the National Science Foundation, which supports junior faculty members who exemplify the role of teacher-scholar through outstanding research, excellent teaching, and the inte
Tech designed to aid visually impaired could benefit from human-AI collaboration
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. But what happens when existing computer vision technology doesn’t fully support an agent in fulfilling certain requests?
IST academic search engine awarded ‘Best Open Source Project’ by BCS
CiteSeerX, one of the world’s earliest open source academic search engines and co-created by C.
IST Assistant Professor Linhai Song honored with NSF CAREER award
Linhai Song, assistant professor in the Penn State College of Information Sciences and Technology, is the recipient of a 2022 Faculty Early Career Development award from the National Science Foundation.
Using tweets to predict real-time food shortages
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.
IST’s Dongwon Lee receives Fulbright Cyber Security Scholar Award
Dongwon Lee, professor of information sciences and technology, is the recipient of a 2022 Fulbright Cyber Security Scholar Award. Lee will complete his Fulbright fellowship in the psychology department at the University of Cambridge in the United Kingdom as part of his sabbatical leave during the 2022-23 academic year.
New model could have ‘Moneyball’-like impact on baseball players’ value
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.
Scientists tap AI betting agents to help solve research reproducibility concerns
Scientists are increasingly concerned about that the lack of reproducibility in research may lead to, among other things, slower scientific output and less public trust in science.
College of IST announces eight seed grant recipients
The Penn State College of Information Sciences and Technology (IST) recently announced eight projects that will receive funding from the college’s seed grant program.
Guided understanding, not rules, could help children stay safer online
As an increasing number of children use digital technologies to play, communicate, create, socialize and learn, the number of opportunities for their privacy to be exploited continues to grow.
Facial recognition tech in public could yield perceptions of workplace fairness
Many people use facial recognition technology on their personal devices, to quickly and securely enter a password or complete an online transaction. But when that same technology is deployed in public settings — such as to screen airport passengers or to grant access to a secure location — how do individuals whose images are captured feel?
Science federation highlights Penn State proposal to combat diseases of despair
The Federation of American Scientists has chosen to highlight a proposal by Penn State researchers for the U.S.
James Wang named distinguished professor of IST
James Wang, professor in the College of Information Sciences and Technology, has been conferred the title of distinguished professor, the highest professorial distinction at the University.
Anna Squicciarini named Frymoyer Chair in IST
Anna Squicciarini, Penn State professor of information sciences and technology, has been named Frymoyer Chair in Information Sciences and Technology, effective Dec. 1.
'Black box gaslighting' challenges social-media algorithm accountability
Kelley Cotter, assistant professor in Penn State's College of Information Science and Technology, examined ongoing debate between social media influencers who claim their content is algorithmically suppressed and the social media platforms that deny it but do not provide transparent information on how they operate.
Penn State awarded $3.4 million contract to target plastic waste
Penn State has been awarded a $3.4 million contract from the REMADE Institute to fund research targeting the inefficient methods currently used to process and upcycle mixed plastic waste.
Paper on geovisual analytics wins “Test of Time” award
A 2011 paper authored by Penn State researchers outlining a geovisual analytics approach to support geographically grounded situational awareness of crisis events using social media was selected to receive the 2021 IEEE Symposium on Visual Analytics Science and Technology Test of Time award.
Fostering community across geographically dispersed university campuses
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.
IST research represented in 11 papers at 2021 CSCW
Eleven papers that involve researchers at the College of IST were accepted to this year’s Association for Computing Machinery’s 2021 Conference on Computer-Supported Cooperative Work and Social Computing, a top venue for human-computer interaction research that will be held virtually Oct. 23-27.
Interactions with unreliable infrastructures could be key to smart city design
Research from the College of Information Sciences and Technology found that smart city designs should consider the daily experiences of citizens or allow them to adapt their own solutions, particularly in areas with historically unreliable infrastructures.
New game can help users identify, avoid online echo chambers
Researchers at the College of Information Sciences and Technology have developed a theory-based game that enables a player to test their own awareness of content that could result in an echo chamber and to observe how echo chambers are accelerated by the spread of misinformation.
Search engine could help researchers scour internet for privacy documents
Researchers say a search engine, which uses an artificial intelligence called natural language processing, could be an important tool for researchers trying to find ways to design a safer internet.
What was really the secret behind Van Gogh's success?
Before developing his famed “drip technique,” abstract artist Jackson Pollock dabbled in drawing, print making and surrealist paintings of humans, animals and nature.
Vasant Honavar named Huck Chair in Biomedical Data Sciences and AI
Vasant Honavar, professor in the College of Information Sciences and Technology, has been named the Dorothy Foehr Huck and J. Lloyd Huck Chair in Biomedical Data Sciences and Artificial Intelligence by the University’s Huck Institutes of the Life Sciences.
New tool fuses expert knowledge and deep learning features to detect sleep apnea
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.
College of IST announces six seed grant recipients
The Penn State College of Information Sciences and Technology recently announced six projects that will receive funding from the college’s seed grant program. The program provides preliminary funding for IST researchers and collaborators to initiate new projects.
COVID-19 study aims to make local policy announcements more culturally dependent
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.
Surprisingly popular voting algorithm developed to recover ranked choices
Imagine you are asked to rank the counties in Pennsylvania in terms of number of COVID-19 infections. Or you may be asked to rank cities in Pennsylvania based on their populations.
Andrea Tapia named associate dean for research in the College of IST
Andrea Tapia, professor in the College of Information Sciences and Technology (IST), has been named IST’s associate dean for research, effective Sept. 1.