Hakim Weatherspoon, professor of computer science, will return to the role of Associate Dean for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion for the Cornell Ann S. Bowers College of Computing and Information Science. His term will run from January 1, 2024 to June 30, 2026. Weatherspoon succeeds David Bindel, professor of computer science, who has served as associate dean since January 2021. 

“I am delighted  to welcome Hakim back to this key role,” said Kavita Bala, dean of Cornell Bowers CIS. “His significant contributions and continued advocacy will help Bowers CIS continue to be a leader in tech. I look forward to partnering with him on this core priority.”

In this role, Weatherspoon will advise and support diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives for the college, including scholarship, programming, and events. He will also represent Bowers CIS on university and related college committees and act as primary advisor to the college’s Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. He previously held this position before going on sabbatical at his company, Exostellar, in 2021. 

Weatherspoon received a B.S. in computer engineering from the University of Washington and his Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley, and has promoted diversity and inclusion before formal programs existed. When presenting Weatherspoon with the prestigious Faculty Award for Excellence in Research, Teaching, and Service through Diversity in 2022, President Martha E. Pollack remarked how the impact of his scholarship, mentorship, and service, reverberated across and beyond the university. 

“I am excited and honored to serve as the next associate dean for diversity, equity, and inclusion, where I can work to help cultivate a community where every voice is heard and every person is empowered to thrive,” Weatherspoon said. 

Since 2011, Weatherspoon has organized the annual SoNIC Summer Research Workshop to help prepare undergraduates from underrepresented groups to pursue doctoral degrees. He also co-founded CSMore, the rising sophomore summer program in computer science, which has been acknowledged with an “Inspiring Programs in STEM” Award by Insight into Diversity. 

He was awarded the Cornell Engineering Zellman Warhaft Faculty Commitment to Diversity Award in 2014, was named the Black Engineer of the Year by Modern Day Leader in 2009, and was elected Fellow of the Society of Black Engineers in 1997.

Weatherspoon has also received a variety of prestigious awards for his research in the computer systems community, including an Alfred P. Sloan Research Fellowship, a National Science Foundation CAREER Award, the Alumni Achievement Award from the University of Washington’s Allen School of Computer Science and Engineering, and a Kavli Fellowship from the National Academy of Sciences. He is also the co-director for the Cornell Institute for Digital Agriculture (CIDA) and the associate director for the NSF Center for Research on Programmable Plant Systems (CROPPS).

Weatherspoon will succeed Bindel, who has held this role since January 2021. In that time, Bindel’s commitment and dedication has helped foster a more inclusive and equitable environment. 

"I would like to express my sincere appreciation to David Bindel for his dedication and leadership in this role since January 2021," Bala said. "David has worked tirelessly to develop and grow the college’s Office of DEI, and has been instrumental in enhancing academic programming and support for diversifying the college’s undergraduate research program and in developing scholarships for graduate students.” 

In partnership with LeeAnn Roberts, Director for DEI, the office now offers a suite of new, innovative programming including: Dinner with Deans+, Alumni Roundtables, ASCEND, JEDI Dialogues, hackathons, as well as a variety of retreats and social events for Bowers CIS students. 

Under his leadership, the Office of DEI also enhanced academic programming and support for diversifying the college’s undergraduate research program, expanded the SoNIC and CSMore programs, signed a joint agreement with the Graduate School to enhance the Hopper-Dean fellowships, and developed scholarships for professional masters students.

Volunteers saved 10 desktop computers, seven laptops, 14 monitors, countless cords and chargers, and one electronic cat toy from becoming e-waste at the first Technology Repair Fair, held in the lobby of Gates Hall on Oct. 13.

Dylan Van Bramer ’25, a computer science major, organized the fair with Steven Jackson, professor of information science and science and technology studies. They received support from the Cornell Ann S. Bowers College of Computing and Information Science, the Campus Sustainability Office, and the Cornell Computer Reuse Association (CCRA). The Technology Repair Fair helped visitors to repair, reuse, or recycle their old or damaged devices, while encouraging the Cornell Bowers CIS community to be more aware of the environmental impacts of computing and the benefits of designing repairable tech.

Each year, Cornell disposes about 100 tons of e-waste, but that number has remained stagnant for more than 10 years, said Ana Suppé ’23, an environmental science and sustainability major. Worldwide, we generated more than 59 million tons of e-waste in 2019 – an increase of 21% over five years, according to a 2020 report from the United Nations. These computers, tablets, phones, batteries, cords, and other devices require large amounts of resources, both to produce and dispose of correctly.

To reduce the amount of e-waste generated each year, a growing “right to repair” movement is encouraging people to fix their own devices and lobbying for laws that require manufacturers to make the repair process easier.

“Our goal was to keep devices in people's hands and out of landfills as much as possible,” said Jackson. “A lot of the current design paradigms in computing in general, and consumer electronics, is really about keeping people locked out of their devices. This is partly a move against that – to get people more aware of the possibilities of repair – and to change the way people imagine and practice computing.”

Van Bramer was inspired to organize the Technology Repair Fair after taking Jackson’s course, Computing on Earth (INFO 4260). The course covers the environmental dimensions and consequences of computing, which include the sourcing and extracting of minerals, the resources consumed to produce the devices, the energy and water used to power data centers and AI models, and the ultimate impacts of e-waste.

“We want to get it in people's minds that computing isn't just something that happens in the cloud,” Van Bramer said. “There's a physicality to it.”

Members of the CCRA were on hand with the tools and know-how to show people how to open devices and see what’s inside. Since 2006, the CCRA has refurbished more than 5,000 donated computers and provided them free of charge to organizations all around the world, from Ithaca to Tanzania.

“We meet every Sunday as a group, open them up, see what's wrong, reinstall the software, and fix up any problems,” said Reid Fleishman ‘25, vice president of CCRA and an information science major.

“A lot of manufacturers just hate it when you mess with things,” said Rachel Arena ’26, an electrical and computer engineering major and CCRA member. She likens the right to repair movement to the open-source software model, where anyone can access and adapt another person’s source code. “I think that the same kind of principles should apply to hardware,” she said.

The Technology Repair Fair also featured a professional: Djamel Zekad, owner of Gadget Repair Pro, an Apple-certified repair shop in Ithaca. “We fix almost everything,” he said.

Zekad successfully fixed a laptop brought in by Clarence Cheung ’26, a civil engineering major. Cheung could no longer click using his trackpad, so Zekad opened the cover and adjusted a mechanism that had become unattached.           

“I just came because I was curious,” Cheung said. “And then I got my laptop fixed, so I’m very happy.”

For devices that couldn’t be repaired or donated, volunteers at the fair also collected items to be sent to Sunnking, a certified e-waste recycler that works with Cornell. Jackson emphasizes it is important to work with certified recyclers, otherwise the devices may end up in the waste stream, or be processed in other countries in ways that cause harm to workers and the environment.

For people who missed the Tech Repair Fair but still have malfunctioning gadgets to repair, Jackson recommends iFixit, an online community that provides repair manuals and tool kits. They also provide a repairability score for newly released devices and advocate for right to repair laws. New York state passed the first such law covering consumer electronics in March 2023, followed by similar laws in Minnesota and California.

Besides simply helping attendees hold on to their laptops, keyboards, and headphones a little longer, Van Bramer hopes the Technology Repair Fair will have more long-lasting effects.

“I think even more important than that is having the culture of green technology become a core part of Bowers CIS’s mission,” she said.

By Patricia Waldron, a writer for the Cornell Ann S. Bowers College of Computing and Information Science.

Some 50 projects from nearly 200 Cornell students filled Duffield Hall atrium on Monday, December 4, for the Department of Information Science’s customary end-of-semester poster session. Each project leveraged human-computer interaction (HCI) concepts to build prototypes – mostly mobile apps – that solve common student problems, like improving one’s cooking skills, finding a carpool to the grocery store, or connecting with fellow musicians on campus.

Most projects originated in Human-Computer Interaction Design (INFO/COMM 3450, INFO 5355), with a few others coming from Human-Computer Interaction Studio (INFO 4420), another Department of Information Science course.

“What makes a good project is when students narrow down on a very specific situation that people find in their daily lives, and then design a solution for that situation,” said Gilly Leshed, senior lecturer in information science in the Cornell Ann S. Bowers College of Computing and Information Science and course instructor for HCI Design. “Then, you need to remember that experiences go beyond what’s happening on the screen.”

To her last point, Leshed motioned to a nearby team that built an app prototype called Beauty AI, which pairs HCI with artificial intelligence to demystify cosmetics, help users find the right makeup styles and techniques, and boost their confidence in the process.

“It’s really hard to try something without buying the product first, so how do you know what style works for you?” said Itamar Shir Mandelzis ’23, a master of professional studies in information science student and Beauty AI designer.

The platform prototype incorporates an “AI mirror” that allows users to see how a particular makeup style would look on them, among other features. The platform took home the Most Creative Design award, given by course TAs who served as judges.

“What was really cool about the course was both learning design thinking, while also practicing developing not just any solution, but a solution for a user,” said Mandelzis, who will earn his master’s degree this month and has secured a job as an innovation strategy analyst at Morgan Stanley. “It was a cool balance of theory and actual practice.”

Along with Mandelzis, the Beauty AI team included Sonia Sunil, Leah Chen and Yuhan Tan.

Another app prototype, Cornell Cultural Passport, won the Social Impact award. The app is meant to improve the campus experience for international exchange students, who – as the team learned – often don’t feel integrated within the Cornell community and are unaccustomed to American social norms. The app fosters connections among students by challenging them to complete “quests” together, like visiting a local park or venturing to the top of the McGraw clocktower. Participants then earn points that are redeemable for gift cards at local businesses and campus facilities. Students Alicia Chu, Miquel Amengual Verdera, Lara Kammen and Thiago Hammes designed the app.

Winner of Best Design honors, IntoxiBlock is a system that pairs an app prototype with wearables to track and monitor blood alcohol concentration (BAC) or transdermal alcohol concentration (TAC) to prevent drunk driving. Designers are Aishwarya Gupta, Fiona Gao, Jamie Paradis, and Senhuang Cai.

Three teams from Human-Computer Interaction Studio, taught by François Guimbretière, professor of information science in Cornell Bowers CIS, were also featured in the poster session.

Roam From Home is a website prototype for the environmentally conscious traveler. The idea, according to one teammate, is to localize international travel: instead of jet-setting to Japan, say, a New York City dweller would use Roam From Home to curate a package of local events to give the user a taste of Japanese culture, all without the carbon footprint of international travel.

“This program encourages people to travel locally, but still get the full experience of traveling internationally,” said Jenny Chen ’24, an information science major. “Depending on what kind of traveler you are, how much time you have, and your priorities, you can really pick an experience bundle suited for your preferences.”

Along with Chen, the Roam From Home team included Olivia Huang, Alexandra Jin, and Aleena Li.

By Louis DiPietro, a writer for the Cornell Ann S. Bowers College of Computing and Information Science.

Yian Yin, assistant professor of information science in the Cornell Ann S. Bowers College of Computing and Information Science, has been named to this year’s Forbes 30 under 30: Science list.

Forbes recognized Yin for his work in developing mathematical and computational tools to demystify the complex dynamics that underpin scientific progress and technological advancement.

As a computational social scientist, Yin also uses science and innovation as a lens to examine broader processes and outcomes in a wide range of complex social processes, from artistic and cultural productions to public policy, media attention, market competition, and human conflict. His research has been published in Science, Nature, and Nature Human Behaviour and featured in Forbes, The Atlantic, Harvard Business Review, and MIT Technology Review, among others.

“I am extremely excited and honored to receive this recognition, which would not have been possible without the inspiring and supportive environment within the college,” Yin said.

Yin received his Ph.D. in industrial engineering and management science at Northwestern University. He holds bachelor's degrees in statistics and economics from Peking University.

Angelique Taylor, Assistant Professor at Cornell Tech and the Information Science Department at Cornell University, has earned the Google Inclusion Research Award for her work in robotics and healthcare. The award recognizes her recent proposed research, “Towards Robots for Inclusive Clinical Teamwork: Empowering Nurses to Promote Patient Safety.”

The Google Inclusion Research Award acknowledges individuals who research computing and technology and are dedicated to addressing the needs of marginalized groups and creating a more inclusive and equitable tech ecosystem. This award will allow Taylor to further her research and continue to work on providing safer healthcare practices.

“We must continue to bridge the gap between cutting-edge research, technology, and patient care to create a healthcare system that serves everyone. I am excited to continue this research with the support of Google and receive the Google Award for Inclusion Research,” says Taylor.

In an ever-changing healthcare landscape, Taylor’s research has pushed her students and healthcare professionals to explore original and unexpected solutions. Receiving the Google Inclusion Research Award recognizes her outstanding contributions and advocates her vision of making healthcare more efficient and patient-centered.

Throughout history, sonar’s distinctive “ping” has been used to map oceans, spot enemy submarines and find sunken ships. Today, a variation of that technology – in miniature form, developed by Cornell researchers – is proving a game-changer in wearable body-sensing technology.

PoseSonic is the latest sonar-equipped wearable from Cornell’s Smart Computer Interfaces for Future Interactions (SciFi) lab. It consists of off-the-shelf eyeglasses outfitted with micro sonar that can track the wearer’s upper body movements in 3D through a combination of inaudible soundwaves and artificial intelligence (AI).

Daniel Susser is an associate professor of information science in the Cornell Ann S. Bowers College of Computing and Information Science.

Before arriving to Cornell, Susser was the Haile Family Early Career Assistant Professor of Information Sciences and Technology and a research associate in the Rock Ethics Institute at Penn State University. He received his Ph.D. in philosophy from Stony Brook University. Susser currently serves as a non-resident fellow at the Center for Democracy and Technology.

What is your academic focus?

Technology ethics and policy, philosophy of technology, and science and technology studies.

Could you describe your research?

I work on ethical, political, and policy issues in computing – primarily critical questions about data, privacy, and the ethics of automation. At a high level, my research brings philosophical tools to bear on problems in technology governance, exploring normative issues raised by new and emerging data-driven technologies, and clarifying conceptual issues that stand in the way of addressing them.

What inspired you to pursue a career in this field?

I studied computer science and philosophy as an undergrad, not – initially – because I saw deep connections between the two. I just really loved both subjects. But over time, it became more obvious to me that each posed really fascinating and urgent questions for the other, some of which have recently moved to the center of public discussion and debate.

Why Cornell?

To my mind, there is no place better than Cornell for research at the intersection of technology and society. It's home to some of the world's top experts on both the engineering side of computing and its social implications, and there is an incredible culture of openness to and curiosity about the insights and perspectives others bring to the table.

What are you most looking forward to as a Cornell faculty member?

I'm most looking forward to learning from and collaborating with colleagues in and beyond Bowers CIS, and to working with Cornell's truly amazing students.

What do you like to do when you’re not working?

I mostly hang out with my partner, Tim, and our dog, Middles. I like to take outrageously long walks (now, with waterfalls!), even in the deepest depths of winter. And I'm an unskilled but very enthusiastic amateur potter.

What course are you most looking forward to teaching?

I'm really enjoying co-teaching Information Ethics, Law, and Policy with Gili Vidan this semester, and I'm looking forward to leading a graduate seminar on Ethics and Politics in Computing in the spring.

Cheng Zhang, assistant professor of information science in the Cornell Ann S. Bowers College of Computing and Information Science, has received the 10-year Impact Award from  the ACM international joint conference on Pervasive and Ubiquitous Computing (Ubicomp) held earlier this month.

Zhang was a coauthor of the 2013 paper, “Instant inkjet circuits: lab-based inkjet printing to support rapid prototyping of UbiComp devices,” which introduced a low-cost, fast and accessible technology to support the rapid prototyping of functional electronic devices. Zhang and his research collaborators were recognized for the paper’s long-term impact in the field of ubiquitous computing.

Research from several Cornell faculty and students received recognition at the 26th Association of Computing Machinery Conference on Computer-Supported Cooperative Work And Social Computing (CSCW), held Oct. 14-18 in Minneapolis.

CSCW is the premier meeting for research on collaborative or social computing. The conference features the latest work on the design and use of technologies that impact groups, organizations, communities, and networks. It seeks to bring together researchers from across academia and industry to advance virtual collaboration and discuss the social implications of collaborative computing.

The following papers by Cornell researchers received awards at the 2023 conference:

• "Reopening, Repetition, and Resetting: HCI and the Method of Hope," by Matt Ratto, a professor of information at the University of Toronto, and Steven Jackson, professor of information science at Cornell University in the Cornell Ann S. Bowers College of Computing and Information Science, received both an Honorable Mention and Recognition for Contribution to Diversity and Inclusion. In this work, Ratto and Jackson discuss the complex role of hope in CSCW projects aimed at transformative community-level interventions. They discuss this in the context of the 3Dprintability project – a long-running collaboration involving the printing of 3D prosthetics in sub-Saharan Africa and Southeast Asia.

• "Computer-Mediated Sharing Circles for Intersectional Peer Support with Home Care Workers" received Recognition for Contribution to Diversity and Inclusion. Paper authors are: Anthony Poon Ph.D. '22; Matthew Luebke '22; Julia Loughman, an undergraduate at Tufts University; Ann Lee, a project coordinator at 1199SEIU Training and Employment Funds; Lourdes Guerrero, associate professor of medicine at UCLA; Madeline Sterling, assistant professor of medicine at Weill Cornell Medicine, and Nicola Dell, associate professor at the Jacobs Technion-Cornell Institute at Cornell Tech and in Cornell Bowers CIS. Their research shows that online support groups for home care workers provide participants with different types of peer support, such as emotional validation and assistance in navigating the workplace, and may help other marginalized populations.

• "Towards Intersectional Moderation: An Alternative Model of Moderation Built on Care and Power," by Sarah Gilbert, research director of the Citizens and Technology Lab in the Department of Communication in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, received a Best Paper award for her work. Gilbert explores alternative models for content moderation through a collaborative ethnography of the r/AskHistorians Reddit community. Drawing from Black feminist theory, she describes how these moderators face challenges accounting for power, which she describes as "intersectional moderation" – a framework that would support fair moderation practices.  

By Patricia Waldron, a writer for the Cornell Ann S. Bowers College of Computing and Information Science.

Researchers from Cornell and Brown University have developed a souped-up telepresence robot that responds automatically and in real-time to a remote user’s movements and gestures made in virtual reality.

The robotic system, called VRoxy, allows a remote user in a small space, like an office, to collaborate via VR with teammates in a much larger space. VRoxy represents the latest in remote, robotic embodiment from researchers in the Cornell Ann S. Bowers College of Computing and Information Science.

“The great benefit of virtual reality is we can leverage all kinds of locomotion techniques that people use in virtual reality games, like instantly moving from one position to another,” said Mose Sakashita, a doctoral student in the field of information science. “This functionality enables remote users to physically occupy a very limited amount of space but collaborate with teammates in a much larger remote environment.”

Sakashita is the lead author of “VRoxy: Wide-Area Collaboration From an Office Using a VR-Driven Robotic Proxy,” presented at the ACM Symposium on User Interface Software and Technology (UIST), held Oct. 29 through Nov. 1 in San Francisco.

VRoxy’s automatic, real-time responsiveness is key for both remote and local teammates, researchers said. With a robot proxy like VRoxy, a remote teammate confined to a small office can interact in a group activity held in a much larger space, like in a design collaboration scenario. For teammates, the VRoxy robot automatically mimics the user’s body position and other vital nonverbal cues that are otherwise lost with telepresence robots and on Zoom. For instance, VRoxy’s monitor – which displays a rendering of the user’s face – will tilt accordingly depending on the user’s focus.

VRoxy builds off a similar Cornell robot called ReMotion, which worked only if both the local and remote users had the same hardware and identically sized workspaces. That’s changed with VRoxy. The system maps small movements from the remote users in VR to larger movements in the physical space, researchers said.

VRoxy is equipped with a 360-degree camera, a monitor that displays facial expressions captured by the user’s VR headset, a robotic pointer finger and omnidirectional wheels.

Donning a VR headset, a VRoxy user has access to two view modes: Live mode shows an immersive image of the collaborative space in real time for interactions with local collaborators, while navigational mode displays rendered pathways of the room, allowing remote users to “teleport” to where they’d like to go. This navigation mode allows for quicker, smoother mobility for the remote user and limits motion sickness, researchers said.

The system’s automatic nature lets remote teammates focus solely on collaboration rather than on manually steering the robot, researchers said.

In future work, Sakashita wants to supercharge VRoxy with robotic arms that would allow remote users to interact with physical objects in the live space via the robot proxy. Elsewhere, he envisions VRoxy doing its own mapping of a space, much like a Roomba vacuum cleaner. Currently, the system relies on ceiling markers to aid the robot in navigating a room. The extension to support real-time mapping could allow deployment of VRoxy in a classroom, he said.

Paper co-authors are: Hyunju Kim and Ruidong Zhang, both doctoral students in the field of information science; Brandon Woodard of Brown University, and François Guimbretière, professor of information science in Cornell Bowers CIS.

This research was supported by the National Science Foundation and the Nakajima Foundation.

By Louis DiPietro, a writer for the Cornell Ann S. Bowers College of Computing and Information Science.

This story was originally published in the Cornell Chronicle.