Brown CS News

by Kevin Stacey (Senior Writer, Physical Sciences) Thanks to a nonprofit founded by a Brown graduate and alums affiliated with the University’s computer science department, more than 400 public school teachers in Providence will soon get a second computer monitor to help with remote instruction during the COVID-19 pandemic. The donation …

“I owe this opportunity to my professors, friends, and mentors: I’m incredibly grateful that I’ve had the privilege of learning from them while at Brown, and I know this would not have been at all possible without them," says Brown CS alum Mneera Abdullah Saud. She's just joined the Rhodes Scholars …

At Brown CS and around the globe, interest in AI and related topics is soaring. CSCI 1470 Deep Learning, only a few years old, today has an enrollment of over 350 students, the department's second largest. But as computer scientists hope to expand the field to historically underrepresented groups (HUGs), students from …

In the middle of a pandemic, some Brown CS alums found a new opportunity to give back. Inspired by a neighbor who bought a second monitor to help his mother teach her elementary school students remotely during the COVID-19 pandemic, alum Matt Lerner founded Two Screens for Teachers just two months ago. …

Applying to a doctoral program can be challenging for anyone, and for applicants from historically underrepresented groups (HUGs) who may not have adequate access to research experiences or mentors, it can be especially daunting. It’s thought to be a considerable contributor to the lack of diversity in computer science departments …

In his newly-released third book, The Alignment Problem, Brown CS alum Brian Christian returns to the intersection of computer science with human ethics and thought. Already winning praise from experts such as Cathy O'Neil, author of Weapons of Math Destruction, it focuses on the consequences of allowing machine learning systems an increasing power to …

Last week, Professor Seny Kamara of Brown CS testified at a Congressional hearing ("Banking on Your Data: The Role of Big Data in Financial Services"), explaining that cryptography solutions to improve consumer financial health can be implemented without endangering privacy. Invited by the U.S. House Financial Services Committee Task Force on Financial Technology, Seny was …

Computer science that benefits humanity, science that’s grounded in an awareness of its societal impact, has long been a Brown CS hallmark. Today, more than forty years after the founding of the department, global concern about the ethical and societal issues surrounding computing is greater than ever. This semester brings …

by Ajula Van Ness-OtunnuOn April 30, 2019, Brown CS Professor Seny Kamara was announced as a winner of The Responsible Computer Science Challenge from Omidyar Network, Mozilla, Schmidt Futures, and Craig Newmark Philanthropies. Seny worked in collaboration with colleagues Suresh Venkatasubramanian (University of Utah) and Sorelle A. Friedler (Haverford College) to “integrate ethics and responsibility …