Affiliates
Shurong Lin
- Postdoctoral Researcher
- CSRAI Affiliate
Department/Unit: Eberly College of Science
Email: sfl5882@psu.edu
Research Interests: My research lies at the intersection of data privacy, modern statistics, and machine learning, with a focus on differential privacy and its applications in responsible data science. I develop privacy-preserving algorithms and synthetic data generation methods to enable trustworthy, reproducible analysis of sensitive datasets. My work is grounded in statistical theory and motivated by real-world deployments, such as the U.S. Census.
Siyu Liu
- Associate Professor of Criminal Justice
- CSRAI Affiliate
Department/Unit: Penn State Harrisburg
Email: sul445@psu.edu
Research Interests: Police legitimacy, police and constitutional protections, the death penalty, and criminal desistance
Fenglong Ma
- Associate Professor
- CSRAI Affiliate
Department/Unit: College of Information Sciences and Technology
Email: ffm5105@psu.edu
Research Interests: My research interest is on artificial intelligence for healthcare, especially for disease risk prediction by modeling longitudinal electronic health data, medical natural language processing, robust and federated machine learning.
Andrea Matwyshyn
- Professor of Law and Engineering Policy
- CSRAI Steering Committee
Department/Unit: Penn State Law
Email: andreamm@psu.edu
Research Interests: Andrea Matwyshyn is founding director of the Penn State PILOT Lab (Policy Innovation Lab of Tomorrow), an interdisciplinary technology policy lab, and a professor with Penn State Law and the College of Engineering. She is an academic and author whose work focuses on technology and information policy and law, particularly information security/”cybersecurity,” artificial intelligence, consumer privacy, intellectual property, health technology, and technology workforce pipeline policy. Previously, she was professor of law/professor of computer science (by courtesy) at Northeastern University, where she served as co-director of the Center for Law, Innovation, and Creativity (CLIC). She is a faculty affiliate of the Center for Internet and Society at Stanford Law School and as a senior fellow of the Cyber Statecraft Initiative at the Atlantic Council’s Brent Scowcraft Center on International Security.
Heather McCune Bruhn
- Associate Teaching Professor
- CSRAI Affiliate
Department/Unit: College of Arts and Architecture
Email: hcm1@psu.edu
Research Interests: I specialize in medieval goldsmithwork, more broadly on medieval art, and the materials and techniques of art history. I also work on pedagogical innovations and the ethical use of AI in student work.
Sascha Meinrath
- Palmer Chair in Telecommunications
- CSRAI Affiliate
Department/Unit: Bellisario College of Communications
Email: sascha@psu.edu
Research Interests: Sascha Meinrath is the Palmer Chair in Telecommunications at Penn State University and a renowned technology policy expert. He is internationally recognized for his work over the past two decades as a community internet pioneer, social entrepreneur, and angel investor. Sascha is widely published in both academic and media outlets, including Critical Studies in Media Communications, International Journal of Communications, Journal of Communications Law and Policy, Journal of Internet Law, Journal for Community Informatics, IEEE Internet Computing Magazine, IEEE Spectrum, Foreign Policy, The Hill, Time Magazine, Politico, Slate, The Guardian, and many others. He was elected as an Ashoka Fellow for Social Entrepreneurship in 2012, and has been named to the “TIME Tech 40” as one of the most influential figures in technology, to the “Top 100” in Newsweek's Digital Power Index, and is a recipient of the Public Knowledge IP3 Award for excellence in public interest advocacy. Prior to joining Penn State, Sascha was Vice-President of the New America think tank, where he founded the Open Technology Institute in 2008 and built it into one of the largest public interest tech policy organizations in Washington, DC.
Michele Mekel
- Associate Teaching Professor of Bioethics and Humanities
- CSRAI Affiliate
Department/Unit: College of the Liberal Arts
Email: mmekel@psu.edu
Research Interests: Biomedical Bioethics, Health Humanities, Bioethics and Emerging Technologies, Etc.
Nathalia Moraes do Nascimento
- Assistant Professor, Software Engineering
- CSRAI Affiliate
Department/Unit: Penn State Great Valley
Email: nqm5742@psu.edu
Research Interests: My research focuses on empirical AI Engineering, integrating Artificial Intelligence into the software development lifecycle. I investigate LLM-based agents, generative AI for code, requirements, and testing, with an emphasis on task allocation and levels of automation, while considering quality criteria beyond performance to support responsible AI adoption.
Sanaz Motamedi
- Assistant Research Professor
- CSRAI Affiliate
Department/Unit: College of Engineering
Email: sjm7946@psu.edu
Research Interests: Dr. Motamedi’s research lies at the intersection of artificial intelligence, human-systems engineering, and human–automation interaction. She focuses on developing AI-driven tools that support decision-making, enhance training, and improve performance in safety-critical domains such as healthcare, transportation, and education. Her work integrates machine learning, human-centered design, and behavioral modeling to better understand and support how people interact with complex systems. She is particularly interested in real-time feedback systems, gaze-based attention modeling, and the ethical deployment of AI in environments where human well-being and trust are paramount.
Rebecca Napolitano
- Assistant Professor
- CSRAI Affiliate
Department/Unit: College of Engineering
Email: nap@psu.edu
Research Interests: Resilience of the built environment; adaptive reuse for sustainable, affordable housing; cultural heritage buildings; UAV monitoring of buildings; sustainable materials development
David Norloff
- Associate Teaching Professor
- CSRAI Affiliate
Department/Unit: Bellisario College of Communications
Email: dcn101@psu.edu
Research Interests: The intersection of Autonomous Vehicles, Artificial Intelligence, Wireless Networks, and Wearable Devices.
Mary Beth Oliver
- Donald P. Bellisario Professor of Media Studies
- CSRAI Affiliate
Department/Unit: Bellisario College of Communications
Email: mbo1@psu.edu
Research Interests: I am interested in the ways that media can enhance well-being and social good.
Ibukun Osunbunmi
- Assistant Research Professor
- CSRAI Affiliate
Department/Unit: College of Engineering
Email: iso5023@psu.edu
Research Interests: Artificial intelligence and machine learning in engineering education, AI-enhanced pedagogy and assessment, virtual reality-enhanced learning, broadening participation in engineering education, student engagement and retention
Holly Overton
- Associate Professor
- CSRAI Affiliate
Department/Unit: Bellisario College of Communications
Email: hko104@psu.edu
Research Interests: Dr. Overton conducts public relations research in the areas of corporate social responsibility communication and corporate social advocacy. Her research also focuses on examining psychological factors that impact information processing and engagement among publics, nonprofit public relations, and the persuasive impact of messages and technological factors in public relations contexts.
Bing Pan
- Professor of Commercial Recreation and Tourism
- CSRAI Affiliate
Department/Unit: College of Health and Human Development
Email: bup63@psu.edu
Research Interests: My research interests include big data and data analytics in tourism and parks, including using machine learning and artificial intelligence to monitor, predict, and nudge visitor behavior.