Your Data Is Shared and Sold…What’s Being Done About It?

Even as businesses seek to self-regulate, data privacy laws remain necessary because companies have to be prodded to adopt them. Michael Kearns, Sebastian Angel, and Aaron Roth discuss how companies collect and use data, and potential privacy solutions.

• Computer and Information Science

Driven by Data

Big data—the analysis of extremely large data sets that reveals patterns and associations—is at the forefront of the modern research process. Penn Arts & Sciences' new program, Data Science Hangout, gives undergraduate students a chance to work with faculty mentors, like Bhuvnesh Jain.

• Physics and Astronomy

Physicists look to navigational ‘rhumb lines’ to study polymer’s unique spindle structure

Biology is full of complex patterns, shapes, and geometries which play important roles in biological function but can be difficult to create. A new study from Eleni Katifori describes how spheres can be transformed into twisted spindles thanks to insights from 16th century navigational tools.

• Biology

The Missing Link: Can the Additive Tree Expand Machine Learning in Medicine?

A multidisciplinary team including Lyle Ungar, Professor in Computer and Information Science, discovered a once-hidden through-line between two popular predictive models used in artificial intelligence. By connecting these two models, researchers can open the door to confidently spreading machine learning throughout healthcare.

• Computer and Information Science

2020 IEEE Robotics and Automation Technical Field Award recipient announced

Congratulations to Vijay Kumar, selected recipient of the prestigious 2020 IEEE Robotics and Automation Technical Field Award for "Contributions to cooperative robotics; networked mobile manipulation systems, particularly unmanned aerial vehicles; and leadership in robotics research, policy, and education."

What the 2016 Presidential Election Can Teach Us About Political Tweeting

There is growing evidence that microblogging (such as on Twitter) about political topics often serves to activate the political identities of consumers, and these identities play an important role in influencing a wide range of consumer consumption behaviors. Ron Berman investigated this phenomenon in his recent article.

• Marketing

Penn Researchers’ Model Optimizes Brain Stimulation Therapies, Improving Memory in Tests

In an effort to better personalize and optimize brain stimulation as a type of therapy, a new study from Danielle Bassett has developed a way to model how a given patient’s brain activity will change in response to targeted stimulation.

• Bioengineering
• Electrical and Systems Engineering

Brain-machine interfaces: Villainous gadgets or tools for next-gen superheroes?

Penn Today talked with Konrad Kording, a Penn Integrates Knowledge Professor whose group works at the interface of data science and neuroscience to better understand the human brain, to learn more about brain-machine interfaces and where real-world technologies and science fiction intersect.

• Bioengineering
• Neuroscience

The programming ethos

In a podcast conversation, Penn professors Michael Kearns, Aaron Roth, and Lisa Miracchi discuss fairness constraints put on algorithms, the perception of artificial intelligence as “value-neutral,” and the convergence of disciplines in trying to address outstanding questions about how to make algorithms more ethical.

• Computer and Information Science

The virtual assistant

Artificial intelligence has permeated many corners of life, from consumer purchasing and media consumption to health care—sometimes in ways we don’t even know. Across campus, researchers like computer scientist Lyle Ungar are working to better understand how artificial intelligence affects everyday life now and in the future.

• Bioengineering
• Computer and Information Science