Published: Oct. 7, 2019

The Department of Information Science has recently earned several grants and awards from organizations both on and off campus.

Department Chair Robin Burke has been awarded ~$500,000 from the National Science Foundation for research on fairness in recommender systems. The project, Realizing Fairness in Recommender Systems: Intersectionality, Tools, Explanation (FARSITE), will develop recommendation models and algorithms that combine predictive accuracy with fairness in multiple, intersectional dimensions. The FARSITE project will also design and evaluate explanations for users of fairness-aware recommender systems.

Assistant Professor Casey Fiesler has been awarded ~$250,000 from the NSF for her project Broadening Participation in Computing through Transforming Technologies and Media to study computational projects in online fandom as a means of empowerment for groups traditionally underrepresented in computing.

Assistant Professor Brian Keegan and Chenhao Tan, assistant professor of computer science, have been awarded ~$500,000 from the NSF for a 3-year project exploring the genealogies of online communities in Reddit and Wikipedia. 

Assistant Professor Ricarose Roque received an NSF Discovery Research K-12 award for $449,994––along with Assistant Professor Melissa Braaten from the School of Education––for the project Designing and Researching a Program for Preparing Teachers as Facilitators of Computational Making Activities in Classroom and Informal Learning Environments. Roque also received a 2019-20 Outreach Award––with Associate Professor Eliana Colunga of the Department of Psychology and Neuroscience and CU Science Discovery Director Stacey Forsyth––for the Communities Code program. 

Assistant Professor Amy Voida and Associate Professor Lecia Barker have been awarded ~$300K from the NSF to study service learning in information and computer science. The award, entitled Designing to Overcome the Asymmetry Problem in Computer and Information Science Service Learning, will support research to help ensure that community partners see just as much benefit from service learning experiences as our students, along with supporting the development of new curricular resources that can be used to help design new service learning classes.

Congratulations to these faculty members!