News

IST students aid in development of AI mental health screening app

IST students aid in development of AI mental health screening app

Two College of Information Sciences and Technology (IST) students are part of an interdisciplinary team working to create a health care application that can assist doctors with diagnosing schizophrenia in remote regions.

Read more...

Penn State announces non-tenure-line faculty promotions, effective July 1, 2022

Penn State announces non-tenure-line faculty promotions, effective July 1, 2022

The following is a list of non-tenure-line faculty promotions at Penn State, effective July 1, 2022. 

Read more...

On the Bridge – June 2022

On the Bridge – June 2022

A compilation of recent news, highlights and achievements from the College of Information Sciences and Technology community.

Read more...

FBI cyber squad head gained criminal justice, cybersecurity skills at Penn State

FBI cyber squad head gained criminal justice, cybersecurity skills at Penn State

“Never give up.” Those are the driving words that motivated Chris Cope, a Penn State alumnus who has blended his education from the College of Information Sciences and Technology and the College of the Liberal Arts to bring his career full circle. Cope serves as supervisor of the FBI Richmond Division's Cyber Squad, providing oversight of the cyber task force to support and drive the FBI's mission to impose risk and consequences against cyber adversaries.

Read more...

Six named 2022-23 Big Ten Academic Alliance Academic Leadership Program Fellows

The Big Ten Academic Alliance (BTAA) Academic Leadership Program will include six new fellows from Penn State in 2022-23. The BTAA is the academic consortium of the Big Ten universities and the United States’ preeminent model for effective collaboration among research universities.

Read more...

Why state funding matters: Affordability of in-state tuition is 'life-changing'

Why state funding matters: Affordability of in-state tuition is 'life-changing'

State funding allows Penn State to offer an in-state tuition discount that saves the average Pennsylvania resident student more than $13,000 per year. For student Nora O’Toole, attending Penn State wouldn’t have been possible without the affordability of in-state tuition.

Read more...

Heard on Campus: Alumni share diverse perspectives in IST Identity Talks series

Heard on Campus: Alumni share diverse perspectives in IST Identity Talks series

More than 40 Penn State College of Information Sciences and Technology alumni from underrepresented backgrounds have participated in IST Identity Talks panel conversations, where they shared their unique perspectives and experiences of navigating the significant diversity gap that exists in the tech industry. 

Read more...

Sharing source-backed information can help reduce COVID-19 misinformation online

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.

Read more...

Real-time, accurate virus detection method could help fight next pandemic

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. 

Read more...

DoD honors rising second-year IST, Schreyer student with SMART scholarship

DoD honors rising second-year IST, Schreyer student with SMART scholarship

Sydney Vachino, a rising second-year Schreyer Honors Scholar studying cybersecurity analytics and operations in the College of Information Sciences and Technology, has been awarded a Department of Defense Science, Mathematics, and Research for Transformation (SMART) Scholarship. 

Read more...

SSRI funding boosts interdisciplinary research

SSRI funding boosts interdisciplinary research

Three Penn State research teams were recently awarded Social Science Research Institute (SSRI) pilot funding to foster interdisciplinary research that addresses human and social problems. The large pilot awards enable the development of new collaborations to pursue novel and high impact research in preparation of securing extramural funding.

Read more...

IST assistant professor Hadi Hosseini receives NSF CAREER award

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 integration of education and research.

Read more...

IST announces 2022 Dean's Circle of Teaching Excellence recipients

IST announces 2022 Dean's Circle of Teaching Excellence recipients

Five faculty members in the Penn State College of Information Sciences and Technology have been selected as recipients of the college’s 2022 Dean’s Circle of Teaching Excellence award.

Read more...

Mark Campbell named associate vice president for Penn State IT infrastructure

Mark Campbell named associate vice president for Penn State IT infrastructure

After serving as interim associate vice president for Penn State IT Infrastructure, Mark Campbell has been named to the position permanently, effective June 1.

Read more...

Peer-led learning: IST course enriches academic experience

Peer-led learning: IST course enriches academic experience

After positive experiences as learning assistants in the Penn State College of Information Sciences and Technology, Erica Mi and Carrigan Morabito knew they wanted to continue to help their peers through the learning process.

Read more...

Institute for Computational and Data Sciences names new associate director

Institute for Computational and Data Sciences names new associate director

Penn State’s Institute for Computational and Data Sciences announced that Mahmut Kandemir, distinguished professor of electrical engineering and computer science and one of the world’s foremost experts on cyberinfrastructure, has been named an associate director of the institute. 

Read more...

26-year-old IST student to earn second doctorate this spring

26-year-old IST student to earn second doctorate this spring

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. A precocious student since a young age, Limeng Cui was part of an accelerated gifted program to complete grades five through 12 in four years and enrolled in a bachelor's degree program at age 14.

Read more...

Penn State College of IST experts showcased at 2022 CHI Conference

The Penn State College of Information Sciences and Technology is represented across multiple areas of the 2022 Association for Computing Machinery’s CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, the premier international conference of human-computer interaction.

Read more...

Penn State student-developed app aims to redefine Black motherhood

Penn State student-developed app aims to redefine Black motherhood

A group of Penn State students is working to support a global initiative to redefine Black motherhood. Blending interdisciplinary expertise from across the University, the students are building a mobile health application designed to support the mental and physical health of Black moms. They’ve partnered with Chicago-based MOMLogics to conduct market research and lead focus groups to understand the unique challenges that Black mothers face.

Read more...

College of IST announces spring 2022 student marshals

College of IST announces spring 2022 student marshals

The Penn State College of Information Sciences and Technology will honor Schreyer Honors Scholar Kaitlyn Bridge as student marshal and Charles Hickey as the ROTC student marshal at spring 2022 commencement, which will be held at 9 a.m. Saturday, May 7, in the Pegula Ice Arena.

Read more...

A flip of a coin leads to lifelong Penn State involvement for IST alumnus

A flip of a coin leads to lifelong Penn State involvement for IST alumnus

Nikita Page’s decision to attend Penn State was literally left to chance. The now alumnus of the College of Information Sciences and Technology was intent on attending a different university in the region. But his mom suggested that he at least visit Penn State before making his decision. So, he made the trip to State College from his home in New Jersey, and immediately fell in love with the campus, the people and the community.

Read more...

IST marks campaign achievements for ‘A Greater Penn State’

As the University celebrates the success of its current fundraising campaign, “A Greater Penn State for 21st Century Excellence,” the College of Information Sciences and Technology is thanking the 769 donors who have supported its students and programs since the effort began in 2016.

Read more...

Penn State Smeal team wins 2022 KPMG Ideation Challenge

Penn State Smeal team wins 2022 KPMG Ideation Challenge

A team of four Penn State Smeal College of Business students and another team member from the College of Information Sciences and Technology partnered to win the 2022 KPMG Ideation Challenge.

Read more...

Online marketplace for tenants wins top prize in IdeaMakers Challenge

Online marketplace for tenants wins top prize in IdeaMakers Challenge

A digital solution to problems faced by both tenants and property owners was the winning idea in the 2022 Bardusch Family IdeaMakers Challenge, held April 6 during Penn State Startup Week and hosted by the College of Information Sciences and Technology.

Read more...

Energy, environmental seed grants awarded to 21 interdisciplinary teams

Energy, environmental seed grants awarded to 21 interdisciplinary teams

The Institutes of Energy and the Environment awarded seed grants to 21 groups of interdisciplinary researchers for the 2021–22 cycle.

Read more...

Women in IST’s Wiki edit-a-thon aim to narrow the platform’s gender gap

Women in IST’s Wiki edit-a-thon aim to narrow the platform’s gender gap

A group of eight students in the College of Information Sciences and Technology recently set out to narrow this gender gap on the world’s fifth most popular website by hosting a Wiki edit-a-thon to increase visibility for one of the college’s most prominent female faculty members.

Read more...

Alumni Achievement Award recipient Noel Claudio inspires IST students

Alumni Achievement Award recipient Noel Claudio inspires IST students

Penn State College of Information Sciences and Technology graduate Noel Claudio was one of 11 prominent young Penn State alumni recognized at the Alumni Achievement Awards Ceremony on March 18. A strategy and operations analyst at Twitter and strong advocate for Latinx workers in technology, Claudio spent time networking with IST students last month when he traveled to State College from San Francisco for the ceremony.

Read more...

Tech designed to aid visually impaired could benefit from human-AI collaboration

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?

Read more...

IST academic search engine awarded ‘Best Open Source Project’ by BCS

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. Lee Giles, David Reese Professor of Information Sciences and Technology, has been recognized by the Information Retrieval Specialist Group of the British Computer Society as the Best Open Source Project, as part of its 2021 Search Industry Awards.  

Read more...

Software company SAP joins College of IST’s Corporate Associates Program

Software company SAP joins College of IST’s Corporate Associates Program

SAP, one of the world’s leading producers of software for the management of business processes, recently joined the Penn State College of Information Sciences and Technology’s Corporate Associates Program.

Read more...

Penn State announces 2022 University-wide faculty and staff awards

Penn State announces 2022 University-wide faculty and staff awards

Each year, Penn State recognizes outstanding faculty and staff with annual awards in teaching and excellence. These awards highlight many of the faculty and staff who go above and beyond.

Read more...

IST Assistant Professor Linhai Song honored with NSF CAREER award

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. The CAREER award is the most prestigious award given by the NSF in support of junior faculty members who exemplify the role of teacher-scholar through outstanding research, excellent teaching, and the integration of education and research.

Read more...

Ritter named recipient of 2022 Graduate Faculty Teaching Award

Frank Ritter, professor in the College of Information Sciences and Technology and director of the Applied Cognitive Science Lab, has received the 2022 Graduate Faculty Teaching Award. 

Read more...

Six receive Faculty Scholar Medals

Six University faculty members have received 2022 Faculty Scholar Medals for Outstanding Achievement.

Read more...

Bardzell honored with 2022 McKay Donkin Award

Bardzell honored with 2022 McKay Donkin Award

Jeffrey Bardzell, associate dean of undergraduate and graduate studies in the College of Information Sciences and Technology, has earned the 2022 McKay Donkin Award. 

Read more...

Fonseca, Harrell-Levy, Schocker named 2022 Penn State Teaching Fellows

Fred Fonseca, associate professor in the College of Information Sciences and Technology; Marinda Harrell-Levy, associate professor of human development and family studies at Penn State Brandywine and Jessica Schocker, associate professor in social studies education and women's studies at Penn State Berks; have received the Alumni/Student Award for Excellence in Teaching and have been named 2022 Penn State Teaching Fellows.

Read more...

Huang recognized with Undergraduate Program Leadership Award

Huang recognized with Undergraduate Program Leadership Award

Sharon Huang, associate professor in the College of Information Sciences and Technology, is the recipient of Penn State's 2022 Undergraduate Program Leadership Award. 

Read more...

Using tweets to predict real-time food shortages

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.

Read more...

Lecture on explainable machine learning to be presented April 12

Umang Bhatt, a doctoral candidate in the Machine Learning Group at the University of Cambridge, will present a free public lecture titled “Challenges and Frontiers in Deploying Transparent Machine Learning” at 4 p.m. Tuesday, April 12.

Read more...

2022 Graduate Exhibition Award winners announced

Sixty-eight Penn State graduate students received awards for their research and creative scholarship in the 37th annual Graduate Exhibition. A complete list of winners is available below.

Read more...

IST ConnectX

IST ConnectX

A special shoutout to College of Information Sciences and Technology alumni who returned to Penn State for IST ConnectX and a Happy Valley Networking Social on Friday, March 25. During the day, alumni speakers presented in two different IST classrooms to share their professional experiences with students.

Read more...

IST’s Dongwon Lee receives Fulbright Cyber Security Scholar Award

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. 

Read more...

IST student blends tech and creative skills to help build platform for dancers

IST student blends tech and creative skills to help build platform for dancers

Fourth-year cybersecurity analytics and operations student Eugene Ryoo is drawing on the technical and soft skills he's gained in the Penn State College of Information Sciences and Technology to make a positive change in a niche domain: the professional ballet industry. Ryoo is working with a team of Penn State students to lead The Ballet Scout, a centralized system where dancers can locate auditions, training programs, jobs and housing needs.

Read more...

Penn State social scientists anticipate Ukrainian refugees’ needs, challenges

Penn State social scientists anticipate Ukrainian refugees’ needs, challenges

In one of the largest mass migration flows in recent history, approximately 3.4 million people have fled their homes in Ukraine since late February. While it is too soon to know the full impact of the war in Ukraine, Penn State social science researchers have been looking at other displaced populations to anticipate Ukrainian refugees’ short-term needs and long-term challenges. 

Read more...

New model could have ‘Moneyball’-like impact on baseball players’ value

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. Their innovative idea to compute players’ statistical data and salaries enabled the Oakland A’s to recruit quality talent overlooked by other teams — completely revitalizing the team without exceeding budget.

Read more...

College of IST names Garraway assistant dean of diversity, equity and inclusion

College of IST names Garraway assistant dean of diversity, equity and inclusion

The Penn State College of Information Sciences and Technology has named Jocelyn Bennett Garraway assistant dean of diversity, equity and inclusion. Holding three degrees from the University, Bennett Garraway has more than 30 years of experience as a counselor, educator and administrator. She began her new position March 1.

Read more...

National Guard hosts third annual Cyber Wi-Fighter hacking event at IST

National Guard hosts third annual Cyber Wi-Fighter hacking event at IST

On March 16, approximately 45 Penn State students gathered in the Westgate Building to compete in a three-hour Cyber Wi-Fighter Hacking Challenge hosted by the Pennsylvania National Guard’s Army cyber team in collaboration with the College of Information Sciences and Technology.

Read more...

Weebly Founder, IST alumnus David Rusenko speaks on 'Dare to Disrupt' podcast

Weebly Founder, IST alumnus David Rusenko speaks on 'Dare to Disrupt' podcast

David Rusenko, founder of Weebly and a 2007 Penn State College of Information Sciences and Technology graduate, appears on the latest episode of the "Dare to Disrupt" podcast. 

Read more...

Westin Scholar Award strengthens security skills for IST, Schreyer student

Westin Scholar Award strengthens security skills for IST, Schreyer student

Kathryn Frankenberg’s exemplary dedication and interest in the world of data privacy is highlighted throughout her experiences both inside and outside of the classroom at the College of Information Sciences and Technology. She recently was selected as a Westin Scholar.

Read more...

IST Identity Talks series presents ‘Strength in Diversity’ on April 5

IST Identity Talks series presents ‘Strength in Diversity’ on April 5

Members of the Penn State community are invited to join the College of Information Sciences and Technology for “IST Identity Talks – Strength in Diversity,” to be held virtually from 6 to 7 p.m. Tuesday, April 5.

Read more...