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.
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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. With many parents unaware of looming threats, and few formal school-based curricula on the topic, how can young users learn how to stay safe online?
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?
Srijan Kumar, assistant professor at the College of Computing at Georgia Institute of Technology, will present a free public lecture titled “Advances in AI for Cyber-Safety” at 11 a.m. on Friday, March 4.
The College of Information Sciences and Technology recently welcomed three new additions to its Dean’s Advisory Board: Doug Balog, founder and president of DB Group Consulting LLC and recently a senior executive at IBM; Angela Govila, executive director, product lead for embedded banking at J.P. Morgan Payments; and Chandra McMahon, senior vice president and chief information security officer at CVS Health.
For Maggie Sapovchak, one of the members of the first class of graduates of the then-School of Information Sciences and Technology who earned their degrees in 2003, the impact of being a part of a tight-knit group of students who worked together to grow a program has been life-changing.
Praneeth Vepakomma, a doctoral student at MIT, will present a free public lecture titled “Differential Privacy for Measuring Nonlinear Correlations between Sensitive Data at Multiple Parties,” at 4 p.m. on Tuesday, March 1.
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.
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 classify cells.
The overarching goal of the Penn State Geroscience and Dementia Prevention Consortium is to accelerate the scientific discoveries that will prevent or delay age-related neurodegeneration.
The Federation of American Scientists has chosen to highlight a proposal by Penn State researchers for the U.S. government to spearhead a nationwide effort to use artificial intelligence and data science techniques to tackle the epidemic of diseases of despair, a term that is used to collectively refer to substance abuse, alcohol dependence and suicidal ideation.
Six Penn State student startup teams have been selected as finalists in the Invent Penn State Inc.U Competition and are set to compete for $30,000 in funding on “The Investment,” a WPSU Shark Tank-like television production that will be livestreamed during Penn State Startup Week powered by PNC.
Members of the Penn State community are invited to join alumni of the College of Information Sciences and Technology for "IST Alumni Identity Talks – Women in Tech," to be held virtually from 6 to 7 p.m. Monday, Feb. 28.
For Rajiv Thummala, a third year Schreyer Honor’s Scholar studying cybersecurity analytics and operations in the College of Information Sciences and Technology, his Penn State education, further supported by a recent NASA Pennsylvania Space Grant Consortium scholarship, could help him to fulfill a childhood dream of working with space and put him on the path toward his ultimate career goal: working with the U.S.
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.
Penn State's Office of the Vice Provost for Faculty Affairs has named 21 distinguished professors for 2022.
Twenty student teams using AI for good in the fields of health, environment, education and humanitarianism will compete for a pool of $50,000 by creating solutions to real-world problems during the 2022 Nittany AI Challenge.
In the first-ever capstone course for the human-centered design and development program, two teams of students put the skills they’ve learned at IST to the test through a semester-long project. The objective: use human-centered approaches to investigate a research question, develop a prototype of an application, and evaluate it with the target audience.
Members of the Penn State community are invited to join alumni of the College of Information Sciences and Technology (IST) for "IST Alumni Identity Talks – Celebrating Black History," to be held virtually from 6 to 7 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 8.
Dope Labs podcast creators and hosts Titi Shodiya and Zakiya Whatley will present Dope Labs Science Communication Week at Penn State, a four-day remote event that will introduce researchers to the broader science communication community and teach them to use social media, storytelling and a web presence to network with other scientists and engage with broad audiences. The event takes place Feb. 7-10.
Anna Squicciarini, Penn State professor of information sciences and technology, has been named Frymoyer Chair in Information Sciences and Technology, effective Dec. 1.
Recent World Campus graduate Holly Swires is using the knowledge she gained at Penn State to give back to the University by building forward-thinking privacy and information security programs in her dual roles as chief privacy officer and assistant chief information security officer at Penn State.
The Penn State College of Information Sciences and Technology announced that Amy Stever has assumed the role of assistant dean for academic services, effective Jan. 1. She has been serving in the interim role since September.
The Penn State Center for Socially Responsible Artificial Intelligence recently announced the results of its second seed funding competition, awarding more than $96,000 to advance seven interdisciplinary research projects that feature researchers from 11 colleges and institutes.
A compilation of recent news, highlights and achievements from the Penn State College of Information Sciences and Technology community.
Presented by the Penn State Center for Socially Responsible Artificial Intelligence, the AI for Social Impact Seminar Series will continue with a talk by Dashun Wang, professor of management and organizations at the Kellogg School of Management and the McCormick School of Engineering at Northwestern University. Wang’s talk, titled “Initial Progress on the Science of Science,” will be held from 2:30 to 3:30 p.m. Friday, Jan.
Penn State World Campus has been included in the 2022 U.S. News and World Report’s Best Online Programs rankings, with placement in the top 20 or better among graduate degree programs that include engineering, business, education, and information technology; bachelor’s degree programs; and the best programs for veterans.
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 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.
Alex Goodstein, who graduated from the College of Information Sciences and Technology in 2009, has a palate-pleasing side hustle as a Pittsburgh-area food influencer. He will share his food influence with the Penn State community during a live cooking session as part of the Penn State Cooking Classic — a four-week cooking event series this spring sponsored by the Penn State college and campus alumni societies — at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 2, on Zoom.
Sherry Tongshuang Wu, a doctoral candidate in computer science and engineering at the University of Washington, will deliver the inaugural lecture of the Young Achievers Symposium organized by the Center for Socially Responsible Artificial Intelligence. Wu’s talk, “Interactive AI Model Debugging and Correction,” will be held Jan. 18 via Zoom.
Penn State students from University Park, all Commonwealth Campuses and Penn State World Campus are invited to form a team and submit ideas about how to improve the world using the power of artificial intelligence by entering the 2022 Nittany AI Challenge. The teams chosen will compete for a prize pool of $50,000; the deadline to submit an idea is Jan. 31.
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.
With help from Happy Valley LaunchBox powered by PNC Bank, Joel Sakyi founded Vybrnt, a startup that provides underrepresented students better access to resources and opportunities that help them succeed during their time at college.
The Penn State College of Information Sciences and Technology will honor Nandita Suresh as student marshal at fall 2021 commencement, which will be held at 9 a.m. Saturday, Dec. 18, in the Bryce Jordan Center. “Being a student marshal is in one word, unbelievable,” she said. “There are so many bright, hardworking students here at the College of IST, and being able to represent our class is one of the most gratifying and humbling experiences of my life.”
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.
Pennsylvania Army National Guard Capt. Francis Killeen has served in the Army for nearly two decades. After two deployments in Iraq and being promoted to sergeant in 2009, he took a short break from the military then reenlisted in 2013 with the goal of becoming an officer. He attended Officer Candidate School, where he commissioned as a second lieutenant.
After a year off the field during the pandemic, College of Information Sciences and Technology third-year student Jenna Fitzpatrick is happy to be back performing at Beaver Stadium. As a Squad Leader of the Silk section in the Penn State Marching Blue Band, Fitzpatrick blends her academic drive to earn a degree in cybersecurity analytics and operations with her experience with and passion for spinning flags.
The Flemming CEED Center faculty members and faculty members from Penn State recently received funding from the Penn State Social Science Research Institute’s (SSRI) "Reducing Social Disparities" initiative.
An interdisciplinary team from Penn State took home first prize in the Big Ten Augmented Intelligence Bowl, where academic teams from around the Big Ten Conference square off to determine how artificial intelligence can create the biggest bang in reducing health disparities. The Penn State team, with representatives from the College of Medicine and College of Information Sciences and Technology, received high marks for their proposal which could save the U.S.
During Penn State Military Appreciation Week, and every day, the College of Information Sciences and Technology recognizes and honors the members of the College of Information Sciences and Technology and larger Penn State community who have served or are currently serving in the military, including current students U.S. Army veteran Vincent Cannady; U.S. Air Force Reserve Cyber Surety Specialist Katie Latter; and U.S.
U.S. Army 1st Lt. Koby Allen is an active-duty SWAT commander and military police officer. He earned a bachelor’s degree in security and risk analysis from Penn State in 2018 and is currently pursuing a master of business administration with a concentration in cybercrime from American Military University. He is stationed at Schofield Barracks in Hawaii, where he lives with his wife, Leticia, and baby son, Kaius.
Recent Penn State World Campus graduate Navy Hospital Corpsman Second Class Bryan Hill was beyond appreciative that he was able to participate virtually in his August commencement ceremony from his home in North Carolina. Hill completed the last two semesters of his security and risk analysis program while on a domestic deployment this spring, overseeing a COVID-19 vaccination clinic in Philadelphia.
The path to Penn State was less than traditional for Gunnery Sergeant Charles Hickey. An active-duty Marine, Hickey enlisted in the military shortly after graduating from high school in 2008, and completed two deployments in Afghanistan in 2010 and 2011.
Members of the Penn State community are invited to join the College of Information Sciences and Technology for IST Alumni Identity Talks – Military and Veterans in Tech, to be held virtually from noon to 1 p.m. on Wednesday, Nov. 17. The event is co-sponsored by Penn State World Campus.
Gregory Glatzer, a junior majoring in applied data science, spent his summer helping to evaluate how technology could be used to track elephant movement in national parks in Africa to help prevent poaching. “The research that I did has opened my eyes to the many amazing applications of data science that exist in various domains.”
David Hozza, lecturer in the College of Information Sciences and Technology at Penn State, will share “Things I’ve Learned on This Teaching Journey” when he delivers the college’s annual George McMurtry Award Lecture at noon Thursday, Nov. 11 in E202 Westgate Building on the University Park campus. The lecture also will be livestreamed.
Penn State Hazleton Associate Teaching Professor of Information Sciences and Technology Barbara Brazon has been recognized with the College of Information Sciences and Technology Faculty Member of the Year Award.
Members of the Penn State community are invited to join the College of Information Sciences and Technology for IST Alumni Identity Talks on Nov. 10, featuring a panel discussing their experiences as first-generation students.
Lorrie Faith Cranor, director and Bosch Distinguished Professor of the CyLab Security and Privacy Institute at Carnegie Mellon University, will present a talk, “Designing Useful and Usable Privacy Interfaces,” at 11:45 a.m. Friday, Nov. 12, as part of the College of Information Sciences and Technology Distinguished Lecture Series.
Two College of Information Sciences and Technology alumni recently came together to establish a scholarship in memory of their friend and fellow classmate, Jimmy Lee Brown, who died in 2019. According to the donors, Desmond Lamptey and Michelle Ngo, Brown had a natural ability to bring diverse groups of students together at Penn State, and played a major role in helping them to build connections and feel at home at the University.