Title
Topic
-
‘Understanding Dark Patterns in Home IoT Devices’
“Internet-of-Things (IoT) devices are ubiquitous, but little attention has been paid to how they may incorporate dark patterns despite consumer protections and privacy concerns arising from their unique access to intimate spaces and always-on capabilities. … We update manual interaction and annotation methods for the IoT context, then analyze dark pattern frequency across device types, manufacturers, and interaction modalities. We find that dark patterns are pervasive in IoT experiences, but manifest in diverse ways across device traits.” Find the paper and the full list of authors in the Proceedings of the 2023 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems.
-
‘Doubly Efficient Private Information Retrieval and Fully Homomorphic RAM Computation From Ring LWE’
“A (single server) private information retrieval (PIR) allows a client to read data from a public database held on a remote server, without revealing to the server which locations she is reading. In a doubly efficient PIR (DEPIR), the database is first preprocessed, but the server can subsequently answer any client’s query in time that is sub-linear in the database size. … In this work we construct the stronger unkeyed notion of DEPIR, where the preprocessing is a deterministic procedure that the server can execute on its own.” Find the paper and full list of authors in the STOC 2023 proceedings.
-
‘Exploratory Thematic Analysis of Crowdsourced Photosensitivity Warnings’
“Films often include sequences of flashing lights for visual effect that may inadvertently trigger seizures when viewed by individuals with photosensitive epilepsy (PSE). Warnings about photosensitive risk in films can help people with PSE make informed decisions about their personal safety, but little is known about how to design such warnings and what information to include. To better understand the design space for photosensitive risk warnings, we conducted a qualitative analysis of 265 crowdsourced warnings about flashing lights in films.” Find the paper and the full list of authors at Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems 2023 proceedings.
-
‘Is “Categorical Imperative” Metaversal?: A Kantian Ethical Framework for Social Virtual Reality’
“The increasing adoption of social virtual reality (VR) environments for socializing and collaborating with others has led to a growing concern about ethical issues in these immersive environments. Beyond the introduction of some practical guidelines, theoretical work on this topic has been scant. In this paper, we propose an ethical framework for social VR based on Kant’s Theory of Morality. In so doing, we argue that the Kantian concept of categorical imperative does apply to social VR.” Find the paper and the full list of authors in the Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems 2023 proceedings.
-
‘”Who is the Right Homeless Client?”: Values in Algorithmic Homelessness Service Provision and Machine Learning Research’
“Homelessness presents a long-standing problem worldwide. Like other welfare services, homeless services have gained increased traction in Machine Learning (ML) research. Unhoused persons are vulnerable and using their data in the ML pipeline raises serious concerns about the unintended harms and consequences of prioritizing different ML values. … Unhoused persons were lost (i.e., humans were deprioritized) at multi-level ML abstraction of predictors, categories and algorithms. Our findings illuminate potential pathways forward … by situating humans at the center to support this vulnerable community.” Find the paper and full list of authors in the Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems,…
-
‘Why, When and From Whom: Considerations for Collecting and Reporting Race and Ethnicity Data in HCI’
“Engaging diverse participants in HCI research is critical for creating safe, inclusive, and equitable technology. However, there is a lack of guidelines on when, why, and how HCI researchers collect study participants’ race and ethnicity. Our paper aims to take the first step toward such guidelines by providing a systematic review and discussion of the status quo of race and ethnicity data collection in HCI.” Find the paper and full list of authors in the Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, 2023, proceedings.
-
‘Homo in Machina: Improving Fuzz Testing Coverage via Compartment Analysis’
“Fuzz testing is often automated, but also frequently augmented by experts who insert themselves into the workflow in a greedy search for bugs. In this paper, we propose Homo in Machina, or HM-fuzzing, in which analyses guide the manual efforts, maximizing benefit. As one example … we introduce compartment analysis. Compartment analysis uses a whole-program dominator analysis to estimate the utility of reaching new code, and combines this with a dynamic analysis indicating drastically under-covered edges guarding that code.” Find the paper and full list of authors in the proceedings of the 2023 IEEE Conference on Software Testing, Verification and…
-
Using ‘recycled plastic as a building material’ on exhibit at 2023 Venice Biennale
Assistant professor of architecture Ang Li exhibited work at the U.S. Pavilion of the 2023 Venice Biennale. Li’s work conducts “investigations into the use of recycled plastic as a building material and structural system.” Read more about Li’s work and the other invited artists at Archinect.
-
China Insights Series: How Chinese companies are reinventing management control
Professor George Yip gave a presentation in the China Insight Series. “China’s companies have long been acclaimed for their manufacturing prowess and, more recently, for their pragmatic approach to innovation. It’s time to recognize how they are also reinventing management control for the digital era through an approach we call ‘digitally-enhanced directed autonomy,’ which gives employees autonomy while monitoring more precisely how they exercise it.”
-
Self-reflection encouraged for teachers in ‘My Teaching Routine’
Mark Martin, assistant professor in computer science and education practice at Northeastern University London, has published a book called “My Teaching Routine.” “This book encourages you to reflect on your teaching style,” the publishing copy reads, “and challenges you to understand when things are going well, when things need change and when they need to be dropped.” A book launch was held on March 15, 2023, over Zoom.
-
Disability studies research incorporated into robotic sculpture
Laura Forlano, professor of art and design and communication studies, has had her work featured in a “robotic sculpture” designed by multimedia artist Itziar Barrio. “Some of the sculptures are programmed and inscribed with text that Forlano, a Type 1 diabetic, transcribed from the alert and alarm history from her ‘smart’ insulin pump and then annotated with field notes,” writes Smack Mellon, Barrio’s exhibition space in Brooklyn, New York. The exhibition’s title, “did not feel low, was sleeping,” is sourced from one of the sculptures in Barrio’s collaboration with Forlano. The exhibition ran from March to April, 2023.
-
‘Ungrading With Empathy: An Experiment in Ungrading for Intermediate Data Science’
“We implemented a model for grading weekly assignments in an intermediate data science course that explicitly gave students useful feedback on their code while not evaluating it on the traditional metrics of correctness or style. … Our ungrading policy was designed to extend empathy towards students and to give them useful, actionable feedback. Our policy reduced the stress that students felt each week, stabilized the amount of time they spent on assignments, and ask them to reflect on their code to request feedback from the teaching team.” Find the paper and the full list of authors in the SIGCSE 2023…
-
‘A Flexible Formative/Summative Grading System for Large Courses’
“We designed a formative/summative grading system in our CS0 and CS1 classes for both on-campus and online students to support a structured growth mindset. Students can redo formative assignments and are provided flexible deadlines. They demonstrate their mastery in summative assignments. While being inspired by other grading systems, our system works seamlessly with auto-grading tools used in large, structured courses. … These students went to the traditional follow-on CS2 course and 94% passed compared with 71% who took CS1 with a traditional grading system.” Read the paper and see the full list of authors in the proceedings of SIGCSE 2023.
-
‘Teaching Assistant Training: An Adjustable Curriculum for Computing Disciplines’
“We present an adaptable curriculum for training undergraduate and graduate teaching assistants (TAs) in computing disciplines that is modular, synchronous, and explicitly mirrors the teaching techniques that are used in our classes. Our curriculum is modular, with each component able to be expanded or compressed based on institutional needs and resources. It is appropriate for TAs from CS1 through advanced computing classes.” Read the paper and see the full list of authors in the proceedings of SIGCSE 2023.
-
Northeastern University Qualitative Research Conference builds ‘a global community’
Hosted by professors Stine Grodal and Jamie Ladge, as well as postdoctoral associate Gabriel Sala, the Northeastern University Qualitative Research Conference is “a free half-day online conference” that aims “to build a global community of qualitative scholars in order to advance qualitative methods and develop junior scholars.” The conference was hosted on March 1st, 2023.
-
Jornet receives best demo for ‘Adversarial Aerial Metasurfaces’ at ACM HotMobile 2023
“Electrical and computer engineering associate professor Josep Jornet received the Best Demo Award at the 24th International Workshop on Mobile Computing Systems and Applications (HotMobile) for the work titled ‘Adversarial Aerial Metasurfaces,’ with electrical engineering student Sherif Badran, PhD’26, and collaborators at Rice and Brown Universities.”
-
Bajpayee spotlight speaker at Orthopedic Research Society
Associate professor Ambika Bajpayee presented as a spotlight speaker at the 2023 Orthopedic Research Society conferences, from February 10-14. Her talk was on “Bioelectricity for Cartilage Drug Delivery and Imaging.”
-
Ganguly presents ‘a personal journey’ of climate resistance
“Auroop Ganguly, professor of civil and environmental engineering at Northeastern University, will share his personal journey building climate resilience. Professor Ganguly co-founded the climate analytics startup risQ, which models the complex financial risks posed by climate change.”
-
International Business Today: Podcast from the D’Amore-McKim School of Business
“The D’Amore-McKim School of Business’ international business and strategy academic group is launching the International Business Today podcast. Episodes will explore the most critical business issues through the lens of cutting-edge research. This podcast is for all global business professionals and any student who hopes to work for a multinational organization in the future.”
-
‘In Search of the Miraculous’ in New York art exhibition
Yulia Pinkusevich, professor of studio art at Mills College, was part of a group exhibition that ran between January and March, 2023. The exhibition was titled “In Search of the Miraculous,” and was held at the Marlborough Gallery, in New York City.
-
‘Not Your Average App: A Large-Scale Privacy Analysis of Android Browsers’
“Mobile browsers may present contradicting privacy behaviors. On the one end, they can have access to (and can expose) a unique combination of sensitive user data. … However, on the other end, they also are in a unique position to protect users’ privacy by limiting data sharing with other parties by implementing ad-blocking features. In this paper, we perform a comparative and empirical analysis on how hundreds of Android web browsers protect or expose user data during browsing sessions.” Read the paper and see the full list of authors in the Proceedings on Privacy Enhancing Technologies Symposium.
-
Gupta delivers supply chains keynote at ICOFT2022
“Professor Surendra M. Gupta delivered a keynote speech titled ‘Academic Research in Reverse Supply Chains, Disassembly and Remanufacturing: A Comprehensive Overview’ at the third International Conference on Future Technologies in Manufacturing, Automation, Design & Energy (ICoFT2022) organized by NIT Puducherry, Karaikal, India. Reverse supply chain consists of a series of activities required to collect used products from consumers and reprocess them to either recover their leftover market values or dispose of them. Disassembly and Remanufacturing are important elements of reverse supply chains.”
-
Wireless internet of things research leads to first prize at IEEE Advanced Air Mobility challenge
“A team of researchers with the Institute for the Wireless Internet of Things (WIoT) consisting of computer engineering students Matteo Bordin, PhD’26, and Pietro Brach Del Prever, PhD’27, and led by electrical and computer engineering research assistant professor Salvatore D’Oro, won first prize at the IEEE Advanced Air Mobility – Concepts Innovation Challenge, a challenge to engage undergraduate and graduate students across the world in developing novel concepts in unmanned air transportation.”