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Dear Bowers community,
It’s an incredible honor to step into the role of dean of the Cornell Ann S. Bowers College of Computing and Information Science. I’m thrilled by the opportunity to lead a college so deeply rooted in bold interdisciplinary excellence, innovation, and real-world impact.
Before joining Cornell, I served as chair of the Department of Computer Science and Engineering at the University of California, San Diego, where I had the privilege of working with colleagues and students to launch two new academic programs, in artificial intelligence and data science — fields that continue to transform how we live, learn, and work.
Cornell Bowers has a remarkable legacy of research excellence and collaboration. Collaborative research is one of the greatest drivers of innovation, and when minds and methods from diverse fields converge, their collective impact far exceeds what any one expert could achieve alone.
As dean, I’m excited to champion bold initiatives, support the groundbreaking research and teaching already underway, and strengthen connections between computing and information science and every corner of the university. I also hope to increase our opportunities to engage with industry and community partners, to move technology, humanity, and society forward.
Thank you for welcoming me into the Bowers community. As we chart the future together, I look forward to meeting with you — on campus and beyond — to explore how we can expand our reach and elevate our impact.
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Sorin Lerner
Dean
Cornell Ann S. Bowers College of Computing and Information Science
dean@bowers.cornell.edu
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New Cornell Bowers building dedicated
Cornell leaders, donors, faculty, and students gathered to officially dedicate the new building for the college. The four-story Computing and Information Science Building contains 135,000 square feet of classrooms, Ph.D. labs, communal spaces, and more. Located south of Gates Hall, the building provides space for faculty, students, and staff from all three Cornell Bowers departments.
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Panel presents promise, peril of AI use in education
The college hosted the panel, “AI + Education: Teaching and Learning in the Age of AI,” in the newly dedicated Computing and Information Science Building. The panel featured Steve Jackson, vice provost for academic innovation at Cornell and professor of information science, David Mimno, professor and chair of the Department of Information Science, and Jadon Geathers, a doctoral student in the field of information science.
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Droids descend on Cornell for robotics conference
The day-long conference, with 250 attendees from around the world, featured four keynote talks from leading robotics researchers, “Rising Star” talks from eight promising early-career scholars, lab demos, and enough robotics research to fill the Duffield Hall atrium.
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Alumni Perspectives: Pedro Yu, MPS ’25, doesn’t quit
Pedro (Zeyang) Yu, MPS ’25, brought this resolute yet light spirit to Cornell’s Master of Professional Studies (MPS) in Information Science, a rigorous, two- to three-semester program that prepares students for successful careers in the tech industry.
| | | | | Michael Macy, Distinguished Professor of Arts and Sciences in Sociology in the College of Arts and Sciences, with a joint appointment in the Department of Information Science, is a recent recipient of an AWS (Amazon Web Services) Agentic AI Amazon Research Award. | | | | | |
Ristenpart wins Test of Time Award for privacy research
Thomas Ristenpart, professor of computer science, has received the Association for Computing Machinery Conference on Computer and Communications Security (ACM CCS) Test of Time Award for his influential 2015 paper on privacy risks in machine learning.
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Knitting machine makes solid 3D objects
A new knitting machine prototype, developed by François Guimbretière, professor of information science, Victor Guimbretière ’29, and Amritansh Kwatra ’19, creates solid, knitted shapes, adding stitches in any direction – forward, backward and diagonal – so users can construct a wide variety of objects.
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Right or left, low-quality news links popular on social media
After studying millions of social media posts containing links to news stories on a variety of platforms, when it comes to likes and shares, David Rand, professor of information science, and colleagues found that news aligning with the dominant political slant of a platform got more engagement.
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AI-generated content a triple threat for Reddit moderators
Research from Travis Lloyd, a doctoral student in information science, and Mor Naaman, the Don and Mibs Follett professor of information science, explored how Reddit moderators are grappling with the rise of AI-generated content, which threatens the platform’s reputation as “the most human place on the internet.”
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Doctoral student’s system eases patient-discharge process
A text message-based, hybrid computer-human system, developed by Cornell researchers, is helping match patients with appropriate care facilities. Vince Bartle, a doctoral student in information science, Nicola Dell, associate professor of information science, and Nikhil Garg, assistant professor of ORIE, developed the system.
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AI models often fail to identify ableism across cultures
New research from Aditya Vashistha, assistant professor of information science, and Mahika Phutane, a Ph.D. student in computer science, has found that the AI models underlying popular chatbots and content moderation systems struggle to identify offensive, ableist social media posts in English – and perform even worse in Hindi.
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Grant to fund robotic mealtime system for people with disabilities
Tapomayukh “Tapo” Bhattacharjee, assistant professor of computer science, has received up to $2.4 million to develop a robot-assisted system that will not only prepare meals for people with severe mobility limitations but also feed them and clean the table afterward.
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Login system helps spot online hacks without sacrificing privacy
A new system developed by Carolina Ortega Pérez and Alaa Daffalla, both Ph.D. candidates in computer science, and Thomas Ristenpart, professor of computer science, helps users detect when their online accounts have been compromised — without exposing their personal devices to invasive tracking by web services.
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Using AI to learn quantum complexity
To help understand quantum complexity – the vastly complicated interactions that happen when nature’s smallest particles interact – Cornell physicists and computer scientists, including Kilian Weinberger, professor of computer science, have developed a machine learning architecture inspired by the large language models (LLMs) behind ChatGPT and similar products.
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Student draws on experience to transform assistive communication
“Tobi (Tobias Weinberg) really is a trailblazer. He’s been developing technology while also using the technology, which changes the way it’s shaped and the way we reflect on it. In the process, he’s hitting on a richness that is going to make the future of AAC technology much, much better, and he’s also inspiring a whole generation of researchers.”
Thijs Roumen, assistant professor of information science, Cornell Tech + Cornell Bowers
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