Six scholars to join iSchool faculty

Wednesday, June 2, 2021

The University of Washington Information School is honored to welcome six new faculty members. These hires will inform undergraduate and graduate education in the iSchool’s Informatics, Library and Information Science and Information Management programs.

Four scholars join the school as teaching faculty with expertise ranging from data and design to business intelligence and information management. Aylin Caliskan and Lindah Kotut join the iSchool as tenure-track, research faculty. Caliskan investigates the implications of machine intelligence on equity and fairness. Kotut’s research seeks to foster respectful technology spaces and inform the development of technology that supports user decision-making around privacy issues.

“Our faculty, staff and students are drawn together around the goal of working toward a more just world,” said Anind Dey, dean of the Information School. “This cohort of incoming faculty support this vision through their commitments to applied research, transformative practices, and creating impact through their daily work.”

The new faculty hires include:

Aylin Caliskan

Joining the iSchool in September as an assistant professor

Aylin Caliskan

Aylin Caliskan's research interests lie in artificial intelligence (AI) ethics, bias in AI, machine learning, and the implications of machine intelligence on equity and fairness. She investigates the reasoning behind biased AI representations and decisions by developing theoretically grounded statistical methods that uncover and quantify the biases of machines. Building these transparency enhancing algorithms involves the use of machine learning, natural language processing, and computer vision to interpret AI and gain insights about bias in machines as well as society.

Caliskan's 2017 publication in Science demonstrated how semantics derived from language corpora contain human-like biases. Their work on machine learning's impact on individuals and society received the best talk and best paper awards. Caliskan has been selected as a Rising Star in EECS at Stanford University.

Caliskan holds a Ph.D. in Computer Science from Drexel University's College of Computing & Informatics and a Master of Science in Robotics from the University of Pennsylvania. Caliskan was a Postdoctoral Researcher and a Fellow at Princeton University's Center for Information Technology Policy.

Julia Deeb-Swihart

Joining the iSchool in August as an assistant teaching professor in data, design and development for a more just world

Julia Deeb-Swihart

Julia Deeb-Swihart brings her deep experience in machine learning, information visualization and human-centered design to the iSchool. As a researcher, she uses her knowledge to design and create tools to combat human trafficking, and works extensively with law enforcement and NGOs to inform intervention strategies and uncover new strategies for disrupting human trafficking operations. Deeb-Swihart’s teaching focuses on the intersection of HCI, Data Science, and Ethics, with additional expertise in computer vision and computational criminal justice. Deeb-Swihart is a Ph.D. candidate in the School of Interactive Computing at Georgia Tech’s College of Computing (anticipated Autumn 2021), where she previously earned her bachelor’s in computer science.

Lindah Kotut

Joining the iSchool in September as an assistant professor

Lindah Kotut

Lindah Kotut received her Ph.D. from the Computer Science Department at Virginia Tech. Her research sits at the crossroads of Human-Computer Interaction, privacy and security with a focus on how people make decisions surrounding privacy, and how to design technology that supports and accounts for these decisions.

Kotut’s dissertation research looks at how people tell stories both online and offline. She considers what and how stories are told as well as why they are told to understand how people are using technology and identify unmet needs. Her research ultimately seeks to foster respectful technology spaces and inform the development of supportive, collaborative, interventive or persuasive technology that supports user decision-making around privacy issues.

Kotut brings deep experience in data analysis, machine learning, social network analysis and cloud computing, as well as program design and development, and web design to the iSchool. She holds a master’s and bachelor’s degree in computer science, from Norfolk State University and Georgia Southern University, respectively.

Sean Pettersen

Successfully recruited into the role of assistant teaching professor from a guest faculty position with the iSchool

Sean PettersenSean Pettersen specializes in data and analytics. He brings over 22 years of enterprise-level experience to the classroom and has previously worked at the dev, engineer, architect, program manager, and executive levels. Sean has worked with companies including T-Mobile, Amazon, Microsoft, the National Football League, Nike, Blizzard Entertainment, and EA. In his work, Sean led large teams in the modernization of the software development capabilities with a focus on data, automation and innovation as a way to differentiate the organization. He holds a Master of Science in Information Management (MSIM) from the UW Information School.

 

Melanie Walsh

Joining the iSchool in July as an assistant teaching professor in data, design and development for a more just world

Melanie Walsh

Melanie Walsh is a postdoctoral associate and visiting lecturer at Cornell University, where she designed and taught a programming curriculum for humanities and social science students. She is interested in data science education as well as digital humanities, cultural analytics, literature, social media, and social justice movements. She is the author of the online textbook, Introduction to Cultural Analytics & Python, and is also writing a book about the social media afterlives of American authors. Before her postdoc at Cornell, Walsh received her Ph.D. in English Literature from Washington University in St. Louis, where she worked as a fellow in the Humanities Digital Workshop.

Heather Whiteman

Joining the iSchool in August as an assistant teaching professor in data, design and development for a more just world

Heather Whiteman

Heather Whiteman has a master’s degree and Ph.D. focusing on the science of understanding people at work. Her passion and focus lie in helping organizations prepare for the challenges of the future of work, digital talent transformation, and in enabling a new future driven by fair data and people analytics insights. Whiteman is an experienced educator and prior executive focused on the areas of data analytics, digital transformation, and strategic talent management. She currently serves as a Future Workplace Executive Fellow, a board and tech advisor to organizations focused on people data for good and has been selected as a Fulbright Scholar to Guatemala in the 2021-2022 year.