To err is human, to learn, divine

New research from Dani Bassett finds that the human brain detects patterns in complex networks by striking a balance between simplicity and complexity, much like how a pointilist painting can be viewed up close to see the finer details or from a distance to see its overall structure.

Bioengineering
Electrical and Systems Engineering

Evolution, Emergence and the Brain

Vijay Kumar Receives the 2020 IEEE Robotics and Automation Technical Field Award

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

Computer and Information Science
Electrical and Systems Engineering
Mechanical Engineering and Applied Mechanics

Ubiquity of Data

Duncan Watts named 2020 Andrew Carnegie Fellow

Duncan Watts' Carnegie project aims to deepen our understanding of misinformation and its consequences for democracy, culminating in the production of interactive dashboards that will enable journalists, policymakers, and members of the public to ground policy discussions in facts and evidence.

Communication
Computer and Information Science
Operations Information and Decisions

Consensus and Contagion in Society

Q & A with Professor Yoo on internet connectivity during the novel coronavirus pandemic

John H. Chestnut Professor of Law, Communication, and Computer & Information Science Christopher Yoo, recently shared his observations concerning the importance of internet connectivity during the pandemic with Penn Law's Office of Communications.

Communication
Computer and Information Science
Law

Ubiquity of Data

#ICA20 Top Paper Profile – Jovanova, Lydon-Staley, O’Donnell, Pandey, Parelman, Kang, Bassett, & Falk

The Communication Science and Biology (CSaB) Interest Group awarded four teams top papers for #ICA20. Dani Bassett and Emily Falk are two of the authors on a paper that looked at what makes some people more receptive to health messaging than others.

Bioengineering
Communication
Electrical and Systems Engineering
Marketing
Psychology

Consensus and Contagion in Society

Language in tweets offers insight into community-level well-being

In a Q&A, researcher Lyle Ungar discusses why counties that frequently use words like ‘love’ aren’t necessarily happier, plus how techniques from this work led to a real-time COVID-19 wellness map.

Computer and Information Science

Ubiquity of Data

Catie Fee, left, and Vivi Kirsh practice social distancing and wear face masks as they sit in downtown Davis, Calif.

You can help slow the virus if you talk about it accurately online

As the coronavirus pandemic tears through the US, and as some governors move toward reopening the economy, reducing the impact of the catastrophe depends on persuading people to continue to follow public health guidance. Emily Falk examines how ordinary citizens can amplify the most important public health information.

Communication
Marketing
Psychology

Consensus and Contagion in Society

The Arctic could have almost no summer sea ice by 2040, decades sooner than expected

The Arctic could have almost no summer sea ice by 2040, decades sooner than projected by many climate models, according to a statistical analysis by economists Francis X. Diebold and Glenn D. Rudebusch. Their statistical modeling could supplement current climate models and help global climate prediction.

Economics
Finance
Statistics

Ubiquity of Data

A Snapshot of the Frontiers of Fairness in Machine Learning

The last decade has seen a vast increase both in the diversity of applications to which machine learning is applied. Machine learning is no longer just the engine behind ad placements and spam filters; it is now used to filter loan applicants, deploy police officers, and inform bail and parole decisions, writes Aaron Roth.

Computer and Information Science

Social Norms for Algorithms

Coronavirus Crisis Vindicates the FCC’s ‘Net Neutrality’ Rollback

The widespread imposition of stay-at-home orders has underscored the critical role that access to the internet plays in modern society. Some countries have done a better job than others in deploying high-quality and robust network infrastructure. Christopher Yoo discusses this in his recent Wall Street Journal op-ed.

Communication
Computer and Information Science
Law

Resilience in Networked Systems

News

To err is human, to learn, divine

Vijay Kumar Receives the 2020 IEEE Robotics and Automation Technical Field Award

Duncan Watts named 2020 Andrew Carnegie Fellow

Q & A with Professor Yoo on internet connectivity during the novel coronavirus pandemic

#ICA20 Top Paper Profile – Jovanova, Lydon-Staley, O’Donnell, Pandey, Parelman, Kang, Bassett, & Falk

Language in tweets offers insight into community-level well-being

You can help slow the virus if you talk about it accurately online

The Arctic could have almost no summer sea ice by 2040, decades sooner than expected

A Snapshot of the Frontiers of Fairness in Machine Learning

Coronavirus Crisis Vindicates the FCC’s ‘Net Neutrality’ Rollback