YEAR IN REVIEW 2023
Message from the Dean
Welcome to the Dietrich College of Humanities and Social Sciences’ 2023 Year in Review.
Over the past year, Dietrich students, faculty, staff and alumni have led or been involved in dozens of exciting new research and educational initiatives, won dozens of awards and scholarships and participated in an enormous variety of interesting activities. In our “Year in Review,” we highlight a few of these accomplishments by pulling from a larger pool of similar stories that were published at some point in 2023. I invite you to read about 2023, or go back to years prior. The total sum of Dietrich activity in a single year is breathtaking — and the highlights are well worth “reviewing.” Enjoy! Richard Scheines
Richard Scheines Bess Family Dean, Dietrich College of Humanities and Social Sciences
Table of Contents
2
New Education and Research Initiatives
8
Dietrich Facts & Figures
10 Community Engagement 12 Grand Challenge Seminar Highlight
13 Research &
Scholarly Work
16 Leadership
18 Faculty Spotlight
19 Faculty Recognition
26 Staff Recognition
28 Student
Achievement
34 Alumni
1
YEAR IN REVIEW
New Education and Research Initiatives
Carnegie Mellon Institute for Strategy & Technology Tackles Risks, Benefits of Emerging Technologies in War and Peace
Following a comprehensive, global search, Audrey Kurth Cronin was named founding director of the Carnegie Mellon Institute for Strategy and Technology (CMIST) in 2023. In addition, Cronin was named Trustees Professor of Security and Technology. CMIST draws upon, highlights and connects the security-related technological innovations already underway at CMU with cross-cutting analyses of the ethical, social, political and economic impacts of these innovations on society. Cronin was a Marshall Scholar from Princeton University, earned a Doctor of Philosophy from Oxford University and was a postdoctoral fellow at Harvard University. Formerly a Distinguished Professor at American University, she founded and directed the Center for Security, Innovation and New Technology in Washington, D.C. She also gained accreditation for, founded and ran the International Security graduate program at George Mason University. “I am excited and honored to be directing this major university initiative, building on Carnegie Mellon University’s strengths in emerging technologies, and tying them to in-depth analyses of their wise use in national and international security,” Cronin said. “Our goal is to focus on building cross- disciplinary bridges — to reduce risks, maximize benefits and make our brilliant technologies a force for good in the world.”
Audrey Kurth Cronin, Founding Director of
CMIST, Trustees Professor of Strategy and Technology
“Our goal is to focus on building cross- disciplinary bridges — to reduce risks, maximize benefits
and make our brilliant technologies a force for good in the world.” — Audry Kurth Cronin
Dietrich College of Humanities and Social Sciences | Carnegie Mellon University 2
New Education and Research Initiatives
Dietrich Faculty Among Leaders of NSF AI Institute for Societal Decision Making
Howard University, Penn State University, Texas A&M University, the University of Washington, the MITRE Corporation, Navajo Technical University and
The AI Institute for Societal Decision Making (AI-SDM) brings together AI and social sciences researchers to develop human-centric AI for societal good that harnesses the power of data and improved understanding of human decisions to create better and more trusted choices. The institute will improve the response to societal challenges such as disaster management and public health by creating human-centric AI tools to assist with critical decisions. It will also develop interdisciplinary training to bolster effective and rapid response in uncertain and dynamic situations. Faculty in Dietrich College will join colleagues at CMU’s School of Computer Science, as well as Harvard University, Boston Children’s Hospital,
Winchester Thurston School on AI-SDM. “Our work at the AI-SDM will contribute the
foundational research required to accurately predict human choices under conditions of uncertainty, time constraints and temporal dynamics,” said Cleotilde Gonzalez, research professor in the Department of Social and Decision Sciences and co-director of the institute. “We will construct the future of experimental and computational cognitive decision science, promoting equity and fairness through human-AI complementarity.”
Dietrich College Faculty Among AI-SDM Leadership
Aaditya Ramdas, assistant professor, Statistics & Data Science and Machine Learning departments
Cleotilde Gonzalez, research professor in the Department of Social and Decision Sciences and co-director of the institute
Kun Zhang, associate professor. Department of Philosophy
Peter Spirtes, the Marianna Brown Dietrich Professor and head of the Department of Philosophy
Rebecca Nugent, the Fienberg Professor of Statistics & Data Science and head of the Department of Statistics & Data Science
Gretchen Chapman, professor and head of the Department of Social and Decision Sciences
3
YEAR IN REVIEW
New Education and Research Initiatives
Modern Languages Launches the Center for Black European Studies and the Atlantic
Mame-Fatou Niang, associate professor of French and Francophone studies in the Department of Modern Languages, created the Center for Black European Studies and the Atlantic (CBESA) , the first research center in the world dedicated to the collection, production, restoration, dissemination and promotion of scholarship on people of African descent in Europe. As an interdisciplinary research hub uniting leaders in the study of Blackness in the Atlantic triangle comprising Europe, Africa and the Americas, CBESA aims to establish Black European studies as an academic discipline and democratize the creation, access and sharing of knowledge on marginalized communities at a global level. It also seeks to connect a generation of students and scholars forging new paths in higher education. According to Niang, CBESA is painting a fuller portrait of European history and culture to broaden perspectives on American and global history. “It is a dream to see CBESA come to life. I have lost count of how many times my colleagues and I have thought of a center like this one, then brushed the idea off as something impossible,” said Niang. “I will be forever grateful to CMU for making this dream a reality.”
CMU members of the Center for Black European Studies and the Atlantic
Mame-Fatou Niang, associate professor of French and Francophone studies, CBESA director
“It is a dream to see CBESA come to life... I will be forever grateful to CMU for making this dream a reality.” — Mame-Fatou Niang
Felipe Gómez, teaching professor of Hispanic studies
Joe Trotter, the Giant Eagle University Professor of History and Social Justice
Dietrich College of Humanities and Social Sciences | Carnegie Mellon University 4
New Education and Research Initiatives
Department of Statistics & Data Science Faculty Contribute to CDC Center of Innovation in Outbreak Analytics and Disease Modeling The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention assist with public health emergencies in (CDC) has selected the Delphi Research general as well as those specific to a pathogen. Group as a Center of Innovation in Outbreak To enhance these efforts, the center will Analytics and Disease Modeling. The Delphi collaborate with healthcare industry leaders Center will be part of a CDC national network to increase the level of health information to build the infrastructure needed to improve available to researchers and officials while readiness and response during public health securing patient privacy and anonymity. emergencies. The network will establish “Our work will streamline ingesting as many of connections with state, tribal, local and these [data] signals as possible and then apply territorial public health agencies and other local machine learning and AI tools to data to let and national partners. public health officials know what is happening The Delphi Research Group will develop, and what is likely to happen next,” said Peter refine and test new outbreak analytics and Jhon, executive director of the Delphi Research disease modeling technologies with increased Group and the strategic coordinator of public capabilities while developing tools that can health research initiatives at CMU.
Dietrich College Members of Delphi Research Group
Alex Reinhart, assistant teaching professor, Department of Statistics & Data Science
Will Townes, assistant professor, Department of Statistics & Data Science
Valérie Ventura, professor, Department of Statistics & Data Science
Larry Wasserman, UPMC University Professor, Department of Statistics & Data Science
“Our work will streamline ingesting as many of these [data] signals as possible and then apply machine learning and AI tools to data to let public health officials know what is happening and what is likely to happen next,” — Peter Jhon
5
YEAR IN REVIEW
New Education and Research Initiatives
Dietrich College Launches the Institute for Complex Social Dynamics
The Institute for Complex Social Dynamics, led by Kevin Zollman, the Herbert A. Simon Professor of Philosophy, develops and uses mathematical and computational models to deepen our understanding of complex social systems. The institute brings together scholars and graduate and undergraduate students from across the university, including the Dietrich College, School of Computer Science, Heinz College of Information Systems and Public Policy and Tepper School of Business. Through these collaborations, institute members will conduct research that seeks to understand social phenomena like segregation, political
partisanship, the way communication networks form and evolve and many other topics. These collaborations can be used to find similarities across remarkably different systems, including connections between human and non-human social organization. “This new institute highlights Carnegie Mellon’s strengths in understanding both the good and the bad in large-scale, complex social phenomena,” said Zollman. “By providing a clearinghouse for this work, the institute will develop the next generation of scholars to employ a variety of scientific and humanistic methods to tackle the most difficult social problems.”
Core Members of the Institute for Complex Social Dynamics
Simon DeDeo, William S. Dietrich II Career Development Chair, Department of Social and Decision Sciences
Kara Kedrick, postdoctoral fellow, Department of Social and Decision Sciences
Kevin Zollman, the Herbert A. Simon Professor of Philosophy and institute director
Russell Golman, associate professor, Department of Social and Decision Sciences
“By providing a clearinghouse for this work, the institute will develop the next generation of scholars to employ a variety of scientific and humanistic methods to tackle the most difficult social problems .” — Kevin Zollman
Nynke Niezink, assistant professor, Department of Statistics & Data Science
John Miller, professor, Department of Social and Decision Sciences
Cosma Shalizi, associate professor, Department of Statistics & Data Science
Dietrich College of Humanities and Social Sciences | Carnegie Mellon University 6
New Education and Research Initiatives
Prison Education Project Offers Students, Faculty New Learning Experiences
Modeled after Inside-Out, a nationwide prison education program, the CMU Prison Education
offered two courses: “Psychology and Society,”
taught by Kody Manke-Miller, assistant teaching Project (CMU PEP) offers courses that are taught professor in the Psychology Department, and once a week inside a local prison and are made “Russian History: Game of Thrones,” taught by up of half non-incarcerated (“outside”) students Wendy Goldman, the Paul Mellon Distinguished and half incarcerated (“inside”) students. During Professor of History. In fall 2023, Jeffrey Williams, the program, CMU students learn alongside professor of English and Literary and Cultural the students who are incarcerated, rather Studies, taught “Major Fiction Then and Now: than teach or tutor. In spring 2023, the program Imagining the World.”
Dietrich College Faculty Who Taught CMU PEP Courses in 2023
Kody Manke-Miller, assistant teaching professor, Department of Psychology
Wendy Goldman, the Paul Mellon Distinguished Professor of History, Department of History
Jeffrey Williams, professor, Department of English
View a short video that highlights the CMU PEP program.
7
YEAR IN REVIEW
Dietrich Facts & Figures
Dietrich College Has Been Home to More than 40 Members of Prestigious Professional Academies and Associations
14 AMERICAN ASSOCIATION FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE 12 AMERICAN ACADEMY OF ARTS AND SCIENCES
11 NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES 2 NATIONAL ACADEMY OF MEDICINE 2 NATIONAL ACADEMY OF ENGINEERING
1,123 UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS
232 FULL-TIME FACULTY 36 PART-TIME FACULTY
12 FULL-TIME OTHER INSTRUCTIONAL STAFF 1 PART-TIME OTHER INSTRUCTIONAL STAFF
160 FULL-TIME NON-INSTRUCTIONAL STAFF 29 PART-TIME NON-INSTRUCTIONAL STAFF
358 GRADUATE STUDENTS
266 U ndergraduate degrees conferred 119 Master’s degrees conferred 32 Doctoral degrees conferred Class of 2023
Dietrich College of Humanities and Social Sciences | Carnegie Mellon University 8
Dietrich Facts & Figures
Class of 2023 Outcomes Among the 91.4% of the Dietrich College class of 2023 reporting, 88% found employment, entered graduate school or pursued other interests, like volunteering or military service. More than 200 organizations employed our graduates, including: • Boston’s Children’s Hospital • Duolingo • Google • Teach for America • WQED • U.S. Department of State
Continuing Education 25%
61% Employed
244 UNDERGRADUATES
Other 2%
Seeking 12%
Phi Beta Kappa Inducts Newest Class of Dietrich Students The Phi Beta Kappa chapter at Carnegie Mellon University initiated 72 students in 2023, including 22 students from Dietrich College. Maegan Bogetti • P RIMARY MAJOR: Global Studies • A DDITIONAL MAJOR: Environmental and Kendall Scarborough • M AJOR: Linguistics
Lauren James • P RIMARY MAJOR: International Relations and Politics • M INOR: Chinese Studies Daniel Kornbluth • P RIMARY MAJORS: Economics and Mathematical Sciences; Statistics (Mathematical Sciences Track Zachary Leventhal • M AJOR: Economics and Mathematical Sciences & Statistics and Machine Learning Maxwell Plottel • P RIMARY MAJOR: Behavioral Economics, Policy, and Organizations • A DDITIONAL MAJORS: French and Francophone Studies; International Relations and Politics Ruijia Qian • M AJOR: Economics and Mathematical Sciences • A DDITIONAL MAJOR: Statistics and Machine Learning • M INOR: Business Administration Eliza Reedy • M AJOR: Psychology Kyle Robertson • P RIMARY MAJOR: International Relations and Politics • M INORS: Cybersecurity and International Conflict; Hispanic Studies
• M INOR: Literature and Culture, Humanities Analytics & Music Emilia Schwallie • M AJOR: Ethics, History and Public Policy • A DDITIONAL MAJOR: French and Francophone Studies • M INOR: Science, Technology and Society Matteo Secomandi • M AJOR: International Relations and Politics • M INOR: Logic and Computation Sophia Shan • P RIMARY MAJOR: Neuroscience • M INORS: Biomedical Engineering; Machine Learning Sean Swayze • M AJOR: Economics • M INOR: Computer Science & Politics and Public Policy Ajunie Virk • P RIMARY MAJOR: Film & Visual Media and Art • M INOR: Animation and Special Effects Cynthia Xu • P RIMARY MAJOR: Literature and Culture • A DDITIONAL MAJORS: Chinese Studies; Psychology • M INOR: Drama
Sustainability Studies • M INOR: Gender Studies Joong Ho Choi • M AJOR: Statistics and Machine Learning • M INOR: Business Analytics and Optimization Emily Finger • M AJOR: Film and Visual Media • M INOR: Creative Writing & International Relations and Politics Arianna Garcia-Guerrero • M AJOR: International Relations and Politics • M INOR: Business Administration & Cybersecurity and International Conflict Verne Anthony Garin • M AJOR: Economics and Statistics • M INOR: Business Administration Pranay Gundam • M AJOR: Economics and Mathematical Sciences & Computational Finance Marion Haney • M AJOR: Statistics and Machine Learning • M INOR: Chinese Studies Zhiguo (Jonathan) Huang • M AJOR: Cognitive Science • A DDITIONAL MAJOR: Philosophy • M INOR: Japanese Studies
9
YEAR IN REVIEW
Community Engagement
LEAP: Leadership, Excellence, Access, Persistence High school students in the LEAP program learn about social justice through storytelling in
the arts and humanities. The LEAP cohort applied their learning through a partnership with The National Opera House (NOH), which works to preserve the arts, culture and music in underserved communities. LEAP students created visual
designs that depict the organization’s story. They screen printed their designs on T-shirts, tote bags and posters at Artists Image Resource . LEAP plans to use their prints to raise funds and awareness of NOH’s importance in the Pittsburgh community.
Pittsburgh Summer Internship Program Anika Joshi (DC 2026) is a sophomore majoring in statistics and machine learning in the Department of Statistics & Data Science. Joshi participated in
the Pittsburgh Summer Internship Program in 2023. She interned at The Forbes Funds where she contributed to a document on the resiliency of the regional nonprofit community, which will be published in a peer evaluated research report that is used by nonprofits, think tanks and governments nationally.
Anika Joshi
Dietrich College of Humanities and Social Sciences | Carnegie Mellon University 10
Community Engagement
Community Engagement Fellowship
Eric Moreno (DC 2024) is a senior majoring in global studies in the Department of History. He participated in the Community Engagement Fellowship, focusing his work on community- based experiential learning with Open Field/ Mooncrest Neighborhood Programs. Moreno’s work was featured in a Community Engagement Program video.
Eric Moreno
The Center for Shared Prosperity Divyasri Krishnan, an intern with The Center for Shared Prosperity, coordinated with the BEAM Collaborative and local Pittsburgh restaurants to improve catering options for CMU campus events. In response to a deep need for more inclusivity and fairness in institutional purchasing, The Center for Shared Prosperity has established an Equitable Procurement Program aimed at fostering equality, diversity and social responsibility. This initiative emphasizes transparent, unbiased and inclusive procurement practices to benefit a wider range of suppliers, focusing particularly on a cohort of 10 Black-owned restaurants and caterers in the Pittsburgh region.
Divyasri Krishnan
11
YEAR IN REVIEW
Grand Challenge Seminar Highlight
A Recipe for Understanding First-year students enrolled in the Dietrich College’s Palestinian and Israeli Food Cultures Grand Challenge Seminar examined Palestinian and Israeli history,
culture and conflict through the lens of food in the 2023-2024 academic year. Michal Friedman, the Jack Buncher Professor of Jewish Studies in the Department of History, and Nevine Abraham, assistant teaching professor of Arabic studies in the Department of Modern Languages, co-taught the course. Friedman brings her knowledge of history, going back to the Middle Ages, moving into the migration of Jews across Europe and finally the modern history of the Arab-Israeli conflict, to the course. Abraham provides the cultural and literary perspective, introducing novels and memoirs that help students understand the Arab and Jewish diasporas and how they contributed to today’s culinary culture. A short video brings the course’s culinary experience to life.
Michal Friedman, the Jack Buncher Professor of Jewish Studies, Department of History
Nevine Abraham, assistant teaching professor of Arabic studies, Department of Modern Languages
Dietrich College of Humanities and Social Sciences | Carnegie Mellon University 12
Research & Scholarly Work
Exploring Shakespeare through Time and Technology
Stephen Wittek, assistant professor, Department of English
Christopher Warren, professor and associate head, Department of English
audience . Stephen Wittek , assistant professor of English, led the Shakespeare- VR project that uses virtual reality (VR) technologies to enrich students’ understanding of Shakespearean drama and the conditions of performance in the early modern theater. In the program, students use VR to come face-to-face with professional actors performing Shakespeare in venues like the Globe and Blackfriars theatres. Christopher Warren , professor of English and associate English Department faculty led two initiatives to bring Shakespeare to a broader
department head, led the Print & Probability project, which uses computational tools and methods to detect new evidence in early printed books. Warren and his colleagues determined that Robert Roberts printed the first section of Shakespeare’s Fourth Folio and have identified the printers of additional sections of the folio.
13
YEAR IN REVIEW
Research & Scholarly Work
Improving Designs to Make Intelligent Agents Smarter
Artificial intelligence (AI) is having a moment, but disruptive technologies are often met with uncertainty that can be both exciting and threatening. Sara Moussawi , associate teaching professor in the Information Systems Program, builds her research on the unified model of information technology continuance of use. To understand what engages users and keep them using AI, she examines data obtained from large (cross-sectional) studies to evaluate AI characteristics, like perceived intelligence and human- like qualities. She also examines the level to which people view these technologies as an extension of themselves and whether it plays a role in perceived usefulness of the technology. According to Moussawi, future designs should take the user’s personal needs and context into consideration. She advocates for developing systems that better react and engage with the user’s unique behavior.
Sara Moussawi, associate teaching professor in the Information Systems Program
Study Finds Women Leaders Face Backlash for Pursuing Peace
Women are assuming more leadership roles in industry, academia and government, but they face more obstacles than their male counterparts. Joshua Schwartz, assistant professor at the Carnegie Mellon Institute for Strategy and Technology (CMIST), examined the gendered peace premium women leaders face when pursuing dovish policies. People often do not understand the complex history underlying foreign entanglements or pay close attention to international affairs. Consequently, they search for mental shortcuts, like gender, to evaluate a leader’s ability to address foreign policy challenges. Gender stereotypes ascribe women as being weaker on national security and predisposed to pursuing peaceful policies rather than belligerent ones. Schwartz found that gender stereotypes are not set in stone, and female leaders can potentially navigate the domestic backlash to conciliatory policies while solidifying a successful resolution to a conflict.
Joshua Schwartz, assistant professor at the Carnegie Mellon Institute for Strategy and Taechnology (CMIST)
Dietrich College of Humanities and Social Sciences | Carnegie Mellon University 14
Research & Scholarly Work
Researchers Propose Framework for AI Use in Healthcare
Healthcare organizations are looking to artificial intelligence (AI) tools to improve patient care, but the translation into clinical settings has been inconsistent. Alex John London, the K&L Gates Professor of Ethics and Computational Technologies in the Department of Philosophy, participated in a multi-institutional study that developed a framework for using AI in the healthcare setting. The team advocates for a conceptual shift in which AI tools are viewed as parts of a larger “intervention ensemble,” a set of knowledge, practices and procedures that are necessary to deliver care to patients. The authors’ proposed framework seeks to advance the responsible integration of AI systems into healthcare. At Carnegie Mellon, London is also director of the Center for Ethics and Policy and chief ethicist at the Block Center for Technology and Society.
Alex John London, the K&L Gates Professor of Ethics and Computational Technologies in the Department of Philosophy
Understanding Data Science Critical for Life, Education
Rebecca Nugent, the Stephen E. and Joyce Fienberg Professor of Statistics & Data Science and head of the Department of Statistics & Data Science, is a co-principal investigator on a grant from the Institute of Education Sciences . The grant will enable Carnegie Mellon faculty to train educators in data science through a new program called Data Science for Education (DS4EDU) . Nugent will train DS4EDU students on how to use sophisticated data science tools that make it easier to see how data are analyzed. The yearlong program for teachers and administrators includes funding for three cohorts of 25 educational practitioners, with the first cohort scheduled to start in summer 2024. The students are mentored by 11 co-principal investigators involved in the program as they develop their research projects.
Rebecca Nugent, the Stephen E. and Joyce Fienberg Professor of Statistics & Data Science and head of the Department of Statistics & Data Science
15
YEAR IN REVIEW
Leadership
Corletti Named Assistant Dean of Administrative Operations
Dan Corletti has been appointed assistant dean of administrative operations for Dietrich College. Corletti leads the day-to- day operations of the college with oversight to coordinate organizational development, staffing and operational workflows. As the assistant dean of administrative operations, he serves as a college representative to the university’s Administrative Leadership Group. Previously a long-standing member of University Advancement and the Office of Human Resources, Corletti has dedicated more than 35 years of service to CMU.
Dan Corletti
Downs Named Associate Dean for Research
Julie Downs, a professor in the Department of Social and Decision Sciences, has been appointed associate dean for research (ADR) for Dietrich College. Downs helps faculty in the college navigate research compliance and corporate-sponsored research. She also represents the college in university-level discussions of research policy and practice. Downs received her Ph.D. in social psychology from Princeton University and joined Dietrich College in 1995. She is the director of the Center for Risk Perception and Communication.
Julie Downs
Kamlet, Nelson Named Collaboratory Against Hate Co-directors
Mark S. Kamlet, University Professor of Economics and Public Policy, and Lisa Nelson, associate professor in University of Pittsburgh’s Graduate School of Public and International Affairs, have been named co-directors of the Collaboratory Against Hate: Research and Action Center (CAH), a joint venture between CMU and Pitt. Kamlet and Nelson work together in partnership with Executive Director Susan Baida to strategize the future of the CAH, which honors the victims of the 2018 Pittsburgh synagogue attack through its mission to support innovative research aimed at understanding and minimizing the destructive consequences of extremist hate.
Mark S. Kamlet and Lisa Nelson
Dietrich College of Humanities and Social Sciences | Carnegie Mellon University 16
Leadership
Simon Named Executive Director for MSCF
Robert S. Simon has been named the new executive director of the Master of Science in Computational Finance Program (MSCF), a joint program among the Dietrich College’s Department of Statistics & Data Science, the Heinz College of Information Systems and Public Policy, the Mellon College of Science’s Department of Mathematical Sciences and the Tepper School of Business. Simon graduated from CMU in 1993 with a dual degree in information decision systems and business. He earned a Master of Business Administration from Columbia University in 1998. Simon will replace Rick Bryant, the inaugural executive director. Smith Named Co-director of CMU-Pitt Neuroscience Partnership
Robert S. Simon
Matthew A. Smith, a professor in the Department of Biomedical Engineering and Neuroscience Institute, has been named co- director of the Center for the Neural Basis of Cognition (CNBC), a long-standing research and education partnership between CMU and the University of Pittsburgh. The center links faculty and students from the two universities through graduate training, undergraduate research opportunities, and joint publications and grant submissions. Smith shares leadership with Julie Fiez, chair of Pitt’s Department of Psychology. Tardio to Head Humanities Scholars Program Therese Tardio, teaching professor of Hispanic studies, has been named director of Dietrich College’s Humanities Scholars Program, an interdisciplinary program that enhances the undergraduate experience by offering the benefits of a learning community while exposing students to the analytical complexities of inquiry in the humanities . Tardio joined the faculty in the Department of Modern Languages in 2001. Her research is centered around different geographic areas in the Spanish-speaking world, with an interest in border studies, Central American cultural studies and gender-based violence.
Matthew A. Smith
Therese Tardio
17
YEAR IN REVIEW
Faculty Spotlight
Dietrich Highlights Faculty The Faculty Spotlight series highlights the expertise and achievements of our new and junior faculty. Their dynamic research and scholarly work makes an impact on societal challenges, enhances the college by expanding our curriculum, and engages faculty and staff across the college and university. Click the link under each faculty members’ name to read their spotlight.
Michal Friedman, the Jack Buncher Endowed Chair in Jewish Studies, Department of History
Katharine Burns, assistant professor of second language acquisition and Hispanic studies, Department of Modern Languages
Phoebe Lam, assistant professor, Department of Psychology
Peter Schwardmann, assistant professor, Department of Social and Decision Sciences
Joshua Schwartz, assistant professor, Carnegie Mellon Institute for Strategy and Technology
Mariam Wassif, assistant professor, Department of English
Dietrich College of Humanities and Social Sciences | Carnegie Mellon University 18
Faculty Recognition
Anya Receives New Directions Fellowship
Uju Anya, associate professor of Second Language Acquisition in the Department of Modern Languages, has been awarded a Mellon Foundation grant to support a New Directions Fellowship. Anya teaches world language programs with a focus on helping African American students see more explicit links between their ethno-racial backgrounds and classroom materials, topics and curriculum. Through the fellowship, she will seek training in a new field — entertainment technology and game design — to create multilingual game-based experiences in online virtual reality platforms for Black youth from the U.S., Brazil, Colombia and across the Americas.
Uju Anya
Cullen Addresses Group Reasoning, Polarization as Dean’s Innovation Scholar
The Dietrich College of Humanities and Social Sciences has named Simon Cullen, an assistant teaching professor in the Department of Philosophy, a Dean’s Innovation Scholar. Through his fellowship, Cullen will develop and test pedagogical innovations that leverage Large Language Models like GPT-4 to train informal reasoning skills. Cullen’s course “Dangerous Ideas in Science and Society” has become one of the fastest-growing General Education classes at CMU. “Dangerous Ideas’ is grounded in the belief that respectful, open and rigorous discussion is the best tool for deeply understanding arguments and strengthening our beliefs on virtually any topic,” Cullen said.
Simon Cullen
19
YEAR IN REVIEW
Faculty Recognition
Kass Elected to National Academy of Sciences
Robert E. Kass, the Maurice Falk Professor of Statistics and Computational Neuroscience, has been elected to the National Academy of Sciences. Kass has been recognized for his distinguished and continuing achievements in original research. Kass joined the Department of Statistics & Data Science in 1981 and served as department head from 1995 to 2004. He also holds faculty appointments at the Neuroscience Institute and in the Department of Machine Learning. From 2015 to 2018, he served as interim co-director of the Center for the Neural Basis of Cognition, a joint effort of CMU and Pitt.
Robert E. Kass
Skibba Researches Student Perceptions of Inclusivity, Anti-racism as Dean’s Innovation Scholar
Candace Skibba, associate teaching professor of Hispanic studies, joined Carnegie Mellon University’s Department of Modern Languages in 2006. She specializes in contemporary Spanish literature and film, and her research focuses on the intersection of literary and film studies and studies of the body, including gender analysis, dis/ability studies and health humanities. Skibba’s work as a Dean’s Innovation Scholar seeks to understand student perceptions of inclusivity and anti-racism in their classes. The initial goals of this project involve corpus analysis of syllabi, creation of a taxonomy of terms and bibliographical inquiry carried out by Skibba along with the student researchers in the RadLab.
Candace Skibba
Dietrich College of Humanities and Social Sciences | Carnegie Mellon University 20
Faculty Recognition
Oppenheimer Receives Elliott Dunlap Smith Teaching Award
Oppenheimer receiving his award from (left) Jay Devine, associate dean for Undergraduate Studies, and (right) Dean Richard Scheines.
Daniel Oppenheimer
Daniel Oppenheimer , a professor in the Department of Social and Decision Sciences with a courtesy appointment in the Department of Psychology, is the recipient of the 2023 Elliott Dunlap Smith Award for Distinguished Teaching and Educational Service. The award is presented annually to a full-time faculty member in Dietrich College for excellence and distinction as both teachers and educators. For the past five years, Oppenheimer has worked to be an impactful teacher, advisor, mentor and friend to his students, leaving a lasting impression on their education and professional growth.
21
YEAR IN REVIEW
Faculty Recognition
Slate Receives National Endowment for the Humanities Fellowship
Nico Slate , professor and head of the Department of History, received a fellowship from the National Endowment for the Humanities to support his research on the Highlander Folk School, which played a key role in civil rights. According to Slate, Highlander’s philosophy of education was based on creating a space in which all people — particularly poor people, African Americans and others who faced oppression of various sorts — could come together and learn from each other and believe in themselves and their own power.
Nico Slate
Tarr Named University Professor Michael Tarr has been named the Kavčić-Moura University Professor of Cognitive and Brain Science. The rank of University Professor is the highest distinction a faculty member can achieve at CMU. Tarr is head of the Department of Psychology and a professor in both the Department of Psychology
and the Neuroscience Institute. He also holds a courtesy faculty appointment in the Machine Learning Department. Tarr’s research focuses on areas of cognitive neuroscience, cognitive science and computational and artificial vision systems. His work draws connections between the study of natural and artificial vision and has been at the forefront of introducing new methods in the study of vision.
Michael Tarr
Dietrich College of Humanities and Social Sciences | Carnegie Mellon University 22
Faculty Recognition
Dietrich Faculty Receive Professorships
CMU bestowed professorships on four distinguished faculty members from Dietrich College in 2023. David Creswell, a professor in the Department of Psychology and the Neuroscience Institute, received the William S. Dietrich II Professorship in Psychology; Anne Lambright , head of the Department of Modern Languages, received the Paul Mellon Distinguished Professorship in Humanities and Social Sciences; Kevin Zollman , a professor of the Department of Philosophy, received the Herbert A. Simon Professorship of Philosophy; and Alex John London, a professor in the Department of Philosophy, has been named the K&L Gates Professor of Ethics and Computational Technologies.
David Creswell, the William S.
Anne Lambright, the Paul Mellon Distinguished
Dietrich II Professor in Psychology and
Professor of Hispanic Studies and head of the Department of Modern Languages
Neuroscience, Department of Psychology and Neuroscience Institute
Alex John London, the K&L Gates Professor of Ethics and Computational
Kevin Zollman, the Herbert A. Simon Professor of Philosophy, Department of Philosophy
Technologies, Department of Philosophy
23
YEAR IN REVIEW
Faculty Recognition
Dietrich College Welcomes New Faculty in 2023
Dietrich College welcomed 31 new faculty members, postdoctoral fellows, research associates and special lecturers to the campus community. These scholars bring a wealth of knowledge, expertise and innovative thinking to various areas of study across the college.
Dietrich College of Humanities and Social Sciences | Carnegie Mellon University 24
Faculty Recognition
Daniel Ames Postdoctoral fellow, Department of Social and Decision Sciences
Carl Kubler Assistant professor, Department of History Audrey Kurth Cronin
Jessica Balguy Postdoctoral fellow, Department of Modern Languages Lukas Bolte Postdoctoral fellow, Department of Social and Decision Sciences Franziska Broker Postdoctoral research associate, Neuroscience Institute Kirk Brown Researcher, Department of Psychology Justin Canfil Assistant professor, Carnegie Mellon Institute for Strategy and Technology Erin Carbone Visiting assistant professor, Department of Social and Decision Sciences Andrea Comiskey Lecturer, Department of English Emilia Ezrina Lecturer, Department of Psychology
Trustees Professor of Security and Technology and director of the Carnegie Mellon Institute for Strategy and Technology Phoebe Lam Assistant professor, Department of Psychology Hanzhang Liu Visiting fellow, Carnegie Mellon Institute for Gonzalo Mena Assistant professor, Department of Statistics & Data Science Krzysztof Mierzewski Assistant professor, Department of Philosophy Haeun Moon Postdoctoral research associate, Department of Statistics & Data Science Xaq Pitkow Associate professor, Neuroscience Institute Joshua Schwartz Assistant professor, Carnegie Mellon Institute for Strategy and Technology Manasvini Singh Assistant professor, Department of Social and Decision Sciences Seth Strickland Lecturer, Department of English Weijing Tang Assistant professor, Department of Statistics & Data Science Strategy and Technology Atesede Makonnen Assistant professor, Department of English Vibha Viswanathan Visiting assistant professor, Neuroscience Institute Mark Wessel Part-time principal lecturer, Department of Social and Decision Sciences
Maria Ferreira Postdoctoral fellow, Department of Social and Decision Sciences Kiyono Fujinaga-Gordon Assistant teaching professor, Department of Modern Languages Sarah Hae-In Idzik Assistant professor, Department of English Eun Hye Park Postdoctoral research associate, Neuroscience Institute
Shihong Huang Teaching professor, Information Systems Program Naama Ilany-Tzur Assistant teaching professor, Information Systems Program Zsuzsanna Kocsis Visiting assistant professor, Neuroscience Institute
25
YEAR IN REVIEW
Staff Recognition
Dandoy Wins Andy Award
Correy Dandoy, senior academic advisor and communications manager for the Information Systems Program, has received the 2023 Andy Award for Commitment to Students. The award honors staff members who are dedicated to guiding and assisting university students and surpass the duties of their job description to meet students’ needs, serving as role models who display a positive and professional image at all times.
Correy Dandoy
CMU Honors Excellence in Advising, Mentoring and Teaching Three members of the Dietrich College community received university-wide honors during the 2023 Celebration of Education Awards, which recognizes the accomplishments of those who exemplify the university’s standards of excellence in education. Andrew S. Ramey , then senior academic advisor in the Department of History and now Dietrich College’s director of advising, received the CMU Academic Advising Award. Danielle Wetzel, teaching professor and director of Writing & Communication Program in the Department of English, received the Barbara Lazarus Award for Graduate Student and Junior Faculty Mentoring. Đinh Ngọc Phượng (Phoebe) , a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Psychology, received the CMU Graduate Student Teaching Award.
Andrew S. Ramey, then senior academic advisor in the Department of History, now Dietrich College’s director of advising
Danielle Wetzel, teaching professor and director of the Writing & Communication Program, Department of English
Đinh Ngọc Phượng (Phoebe), a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Psychology
Dietrich College of Humanities and Social Sciences | Carnegie Mellon University 26
Faculty, Staff Retire
Staff Recognition
STAFF YEARS OF SERVICE YEARS OF SERVICE
5 YEARS Adam Causgrove Laura Donaldson Danielle Hamilton Jordan Mroziak Samantha Nielsen Nick Ryan Lizzy Stoyle
10 YEARS Laura Butler George Cann Lisa Everett Jeffrey Flagg Tiona Jones Mary Lloyd Jen Loughran Andrew Yankes
15 YEARS Sarah Bernardini Cheryl Mack Agustin Medici Susan Miller Abby Simmons 20 YEARS Franklin Chen Nicole Mitchell
25 YEARS Natalie Taylor
30 YEARS Jean Bird Vickie McKay
White Wins Staff Community Excellence Award
Teraya White has won the 2023 Staff Community Excellence Award, which is presented to a Dietrich College staff member who embodies the values of diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging (DEIB) by providing leadership, creating and enhancing inclusive climates and connecting the larger community to college DEIB efforts. White is an academic program manager for the Master of Science in Applied Data Science program. She is also an advocate for undergraduate students, helping to build the Bridges to Healthcare Technology summer program.
Teraya White
27
YEAR IN REVIEW
Student Achievement
Boyd Receives Gretchen Goldsmith Lankford Award
Morgan Boyd, a 2023 graduate of the Department of Psychology, has received the Gretchen Goldsmith Lankford Award. This award recognizes a student with exceptional academic achievement who plans to pursue graduate studies in education. Boyd, whose studies focused on developmental learning and creative writing, will continue her education at New York University, Steinhardt, where she will pursue a Ph.D. in developmental psychology. Through her studies, she aims to research how to maximize successful outcomes in Black childhood education.
Morgan Boyd
Kwasa Named Fulbright U.S. Scholar
Jasmine Kwasa, a postdoctoral researcher in the Neuroscience Institute, has received a Fulbright U.S. Scholar Program award to expand her work to increase access to quality epilepsy monitoring in Kenya. Her research is focused on testing and designing products that are used to help electroencephalography machines work on people with coarse, curly, dense and afro-textured hair. The Fulbright Scholar Program provides funding for U.S. residents to teach, conduct research and carry out professional projects around the world.
Jasmine Kwasa
Robert Publishes Research in Journal of Neuroscience
Sophia Robert, a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Psychology, was first author on a paper that used neuroimaging to understand how the brain registers animated and static images. Robert was part of a team that developed short animations that capture the outline of a moving object, depicted with dots. The work illustrates that the regions of the brain that process static and animated images overlap but also identified new regions of the brain not previously associated with object categorization. The results were published in the January 2023 issue of the Journal of Neuroscience.
Sophia Robert
Dietrich College of Humanities and Social Sciences | Carnegie Mellon University 28
Student Achievement
Next Cohort of Dietrich Scholars Begin Studies The college welcomed its third cohort of Dietrich College Scholars. These students represent an exemplary group of doctoral students pursuing their degrees in the humanities and social sciences. The scholars represent six of the Dietrich College departments that offer Ph.D. programs. The fellowship provides a pathway to success through financial support, opportunities to expand networks and professional development. It also offers incoming doctoral students an opportunity to develop relationships with graduate students across departments within Dietrich College to build community, belonging and networking.
Henry Aceves Department of English
Katie Burch Department of History
Candice Guerbeau Department of Modern Languages
Federica Pasqualone Department of Philosophy
Elsa Palumbo Department of Statistics & Data Science
Julia Ostrowski Neuroscience Institute
Lauren Sabo Neuroscience Institute
Ezra Sutter Neuroscience Institute
29
YEAR IN REVIEW
Student Achievement
Rowley and Zhao Receive Graduate Student Teaching Awards
Robyn Rowley
Zhongxia (Ricky) Zhao
Robyn Rowley, a Ph.D. student in the Department of English, received a Graduate Student Teaching Award for 2023. This award recognizes outstanding expertise in curriculum development, teaching and student mentoring. She is working toward a degree in literary and cultural studies focused on contemporary American literature and visual media. Zhongxia (Ricky) Zhao, a Ph.D. student in the Department of Philosophy, received the Graduate Student Teaching Assistant Award for 2023. This award recognizes remarkable distinction, dedication and creativity as a teaching assistant. His work is focused on game theory and formal epistemology.
Teofanova Awarded Critical Language Scholarship in 2023
Andrea Teofanova, a 2023 graduate who majored in economics and politics with a minor in Russian studies, has received the U.S. Department of State Critical Language Scholarship. Teofanova is studying Russian at the American University of Central Asia in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan.
Andrea Teofanova
Dietrich College of Humanities and Social Sciences | Carnegie Mellon University 30
Student Achievement
Dietrich Graduate Students Present at NeurIPS Conference
Andrew Luo
Joel Ye
Gabriel Sarch
Three graduate students from Dietrich College — Andrew Luo, Joel Ye and Gabriel Sarch — are using artificial intelligence to advance neuroscience research. They presented research at the 2023 NeurIPS conference, and their papers will be published in the journal Advances in Neural Information Processing Systems.
Tang Named K&L Gates Presidential Fellow
Zeyu Tang, a Ph.D. student in the Department of Philosophy, joined three fellow CMU doctoral students as the 2023–2024 K&L Gates Presidential Fellows. Tang’s work aims to leverage the power of causal learning and reasoning and focuses on the ethical considerations of computational techniques. The fellowship program provides students with financial support, enabling them to further their studies on ethical and policy issues surrounding artificial intelligence.
Zeyu Tang
31
YEAR IN REVIEW
Student Achievement
Dietrich Alumni Receive Fulbright Grants
The Fulbright U.S. Student Program awarded grants to six CMU alumni, including four who pursued majors in the Dietrich College. Maegan Bogetti headed to Italy while Ian Daugherty headed to Taiwan. Rachel Koenig and Joshua Pinckney went to Spain. The Fulbright U.S. Student Program provides an unparalleled opportunity to teach, study and conduct research in over 150 countries worldwide.
Maegan Bogetti (DC 2022)
Ian Daugherty (DC, MCS 2023)
Rachel Koenig (MCS, DC 2023)
Joshua Pinckney (DC 2021)
Dietrich College of Humanities and Social Sciences | Carnegie Mellon University 32
Student Achievement
Seniors Named ACS Scholars
Eight Dietrich College seniors have been named Andrew Carnegie Society (ACS) Scholars. This award recognizes undergraduate students who embody CMU’s high standards of academic excellence, volunteerism, leadership and involvement in student organizations, athletics or the arts.
The 2023-2024 Dietrich College ACS Scholars include: • S arah Abrams: Department of English • M ennatallah Barghout: Department of Social and Decision Sciences • A iwen Chen: Departments of Philosophy and Psychology • L etian Huang: Department of Philosophy • Jo-Michelle Huczko: Departments of History and Philosophy • R aaka Mukhopadhyay: Department of Statistics & Data Science • M arissa Pekular: Carnegie Mellon Institute for Strategy and Technology • E mmeline Wetzel: Information Systems Program
33
YEAR IN REVIEW
Page 1 Page 2 Page 3 Page 4 Page 5 Page 6 Page 7 Page 8 Page 9 Page 10 Page 11 Page 12 Page 13 Page 14 Page 15 Page 16 Page 17 Page 18 Page 19 Page 20 Page 21 Page 22 Page 23 Page 24 Page 25 Page 26 Page 27 Page 28 Page 29 Page 30 Page 31 Page 32 Page 33 Page 34 Page 35 Page 36 Page 37 Page 38 Page 39 Page 40Made with FlippingBook - PDF hosting