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Erica K. Brockmeier
Science News Officer
ekbrock@upenn.edu
Marking the launch of PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X, Penn professors and lecturers explain the significance of the new console hardware hitting the market this holiday.
Student interns worked this summer with the Davis Lab in the Penn Epilepsy Center to research improvements to epilepsy diagnosis using the tools of machine learning and network analysis.
As a member of PIT-UN, Penn deepens its investment in STEM training for the public good.
Using insights from the field of natural language processing, computer scientist Dan Roth and his research group are developing an online platform that helps users find relevant and trustworthy information about the novel coronavirus.
Stephanie Weirich, ENIAC President’s Distinguished Professor in Computer and Information Science, aims to make software systems more reliable, maintainable, and secure.
In a Q&A, researcher Lyle Ungar discusses why counties that frequently use words like ‘love’ aren’t necessarily happier, plus how techniques from this work led to a real-time COVID-19 wellness map.
Media hacks and data breaches are everywhere. Nick Falcone of Penn’s Office of Information Security works to keep the University’s information assets safe, from employing phishing-simulation tools to monitoring attack trends across all schools and centers.
Stephanie Dick delves deep into the practice of computer programming and design to shed light on different communities’ attempts to automate reason, knowledge, and proof.
Three from Penn have been named to the American Association for the Advancement of Science’s newest class of Fellows: Carolyn Gibson of the School of Dental Medicine, Sampath Kannan of the School of Engineering and Applied Science, and Ellen Puré of the School of Veterinary Medicine.
A Q&A with Lee Bassett, a scientist who works on quantum computing platforms, with insights into this feat of engineering and what the future might hold for this fast-paced field of research.
Erica K. Brockmeier
Science News Officer
ekbrock@upenn.edu
Ravi Parikh of the Perelman School of Medicine said the use of machine learning in health care can be a double-edged sword. "Even though you might have an AI that's accurate on the whole, if it's mischaracterizing an outcome for a specific group of patients you really have to question whether it's worth it," he said.
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Mauro Guillén of the Wharton School weighed in on personal finance apps for smartphones. “With digital technology, the possibilities expand,” he said. “I think we’re just seeing the beginning.”
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An algorithm created for the Philadelphia Adult Probation and Parole Department by Richard Berk of the School of Arts and Sciences tries to improve on human judgement by excluding data that could be a proxy for race. “All machine-learning algorithms are black boxes, but the human brain is also a black box,” he said.
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Matt Blaze of the School of Engineering and Applied Science weighed in on a Washington state district’s plans to implement smartphone voting. “This extremely risky decision runs counter to the findings of the authoritative National Academies ‘Securing the Vote’ study, which represents the consensus of experts,” he said.
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Ross Koppel of the School of Arts and Sciences spoke about the need for data standards in managing electronic medical records. “The classic line is that these data standards are like toothbrushes,” he said. “Everybody wants one, but they don’t want to share.”
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Tessa Cook of the Perelman School of Medicine commented on the results of a study exploring the use of artificial intelligence in detecting disease. “Perhaps the better conclusion is that in the narrow public body of work comparing A.I. to human physicians, AI is no worse than humans, but the data are sparse and it may be too soon to tell,” she said.
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