New directions 2018

The third New Directions in the Psychology of Technology Research Conference was held at Stanford Graduate School of Business on October 19th 2018. The conference was sponsored by Stanford’s Department of Communication, Graduate School of Business, and Center for Work, Technology & Organization.

Conference Organizers

• Jeff Hancock, Stanford University, Communications

• Pamela J. Hinds, Stanford University, The Center for Work, Technology & Organization

• Michal Kosinski, Stanford University, Graduate School of Business

SPEAKERS

Susan Athey, Stanford, GSB

Susan Athey is The Economics of Technology Professor at Stanford Graduate School of Business.  She received her bachelor's degree from Duke University and her Ph.D. from Stanford, and she holds an honorary doctorate from Duke University. She previously taught at the economics departments at MIT, Stanford and Harvard.  In 2007, Professor Athey received the John Bates Clark Medal, awarded by the American Economic Association to “that American economist under the age of forty who is adjudged to have made the most significant contribution to economic thought and knowledge.” She was elected to the National Academy of Science in 2012 and to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2008.  Professor Athey’s research focuses on the intersection of machine learning and econometrics, marketplace design, and the economics of digitization. She advises governments and businesses on marketplace design and platform economics, serving as consulting chief economist to Microsoft for a number of years, and serving on the boards of Expedia, Lending Club, Rover, Ripple. 

Matt Beane, UC Santa Barbara 

Matt Beane is an Assistant Professor in the Technology Management Program at the University of California, Santa Barbara and a Research Affiliate with MIT's Institute for the Digital Economy. Matt studies deviance in work involving machine intelligence - and specifically robotics. He asks questions like "When, where and how will workers, organizations and even AI engage in deviance in the 21st century, and what are the consequences?" Matt has done extensive field research on robotic surgery, robotic materials transport, and robotic telepresence in healthcare, elder care and knowledge work. He received his Ph.D. from the Sloan School of Management at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the Information Technologies department. His research on robotic surgery is published in 2018 at Administrative Science Quarterly and his work on robotic telepresence was published in 2014 in Organization Science. He was selected in 2012 as a Human Robot Interaction Pioneer, and is a regular contributor to popular outlets such as Wired, MIT’s Technology Review, TechCrunch, Forbes and Robohub. Matt also took a two-year hiatus from his doctoral studies to help found and fund Humatics, an MIT-connected, full-stack IoT startup.

Angèle Christin, Stanford University

Angèle Christin is an assistant professor in the Department of Communication and affiliated faculty in the Sociology Department and Program in Science, Technology, and Society at Stanford University. She studies how algorithms and analytics transform professional values, expertise, and work practices.

KeVIN CROWSTON, SYRACUSE UNIVERSITY

Kevin Crowston is a Distinguished Professor of Information Science at the Syracuse University School of Information Studies (aka the iSchool). He received his A.B. (1984) in Applied Mathematics (Computer Science) from Harvard University and a Ph.D. (1991) in Information Technologies from the Sloan School of Management, Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He currently serves as Associate Dean for Research. His research examines new ways of organizing made possible by the use of information technology. He approaches this issue in several ways: empirical studies of coordination-intensive processes in human organizations (especially virtual organization); theoretical characterizations of coordination problems and alternative methods for managing them; and design and empirical evaluation of systems to support people working together.

Munmun de Choudhury, Georgia Institute of technology

Munmun de Choudhury is an Assistant Professor in the School of Interactive Computing at Georgia Tech. She is also affiliated with the Graphics and Visualization Center, Institute for People and Technology, and the Machine Learning Center at Georgia Tech. Her research interests are in the interdisciplinary area of computational social science, wherein she is interested in questions around making sense of human behavior and psychological state, as manifested via our online social footprints. She is motivated by how the availability of large-scale online social data, coupled with computational methods can help us answer fundamental questions relating to our social lives, particularly our health and well-being. Her research agenda thus makes extensive use of applied machine learning, applied statistics, large-scale data analytics, as well as social and behavioral science, and human-centered approaches. At Georgia Tech, she leads the Social Dynamics and Wellbeing Lab (SocWeB). They study, analyze, and appropriate social media to derive computational, large-scale data-driven insights, and to develop mechanisms and technologies for improving our well-being, particularly our mental health.

amir goldberg, Stanford GSB

Professor Goldberg received bachelors’ degrees in Computer Science and Film Studies from Tel Aviv University, and an MA in Sociology from Goldsmith’s College, University of London. Before pursuing a PhD in Sociology at Princeton University, he worked for several years as a software programmer, an IT consultant and a technology journalist. An Associate Professor of Organizational Behavior in Stanford’s Graduate School of Business, his research projects all share an overarching theme: the desire to understand the social mechanisms that underlie how people construct meaning, and consequently pursue action. His work has been published in the American Journal of Sociology, the American Sociological Review, Management Science and the Review of Financial Studies.

Sam Gosling, University of Texas

Sam Gosling is a Professor of Psychology at the University of Texas, Austin. He did his doctoral work at the University of California at Berkeley, where his dissertation focused personality in spotted hyenas. His current research focuses on the psychology of physical space, how personality is expressed in everyday contexts in daily life, and in new methods for collecting data in the behavioral sciences. His approach is ecological, emphasizing the importance of studying individuals in the contexts of their natural habitats.

Malte Jung, Cornell University

Malte Jung is an Assistant Professor in Information Science at Cornell University and the Nancy H. ’62 and Philip M. ’62 Young Sesquicentennial Faculty Fellow. His research focuses on the intersections of teamwork, robots, and emotion. The goal of his research is to inform our basic understanding of robots in work teams as well as to inform how we design technology to support teamwork across a wide range of settings. Malte Jung received his Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from Stanford University. Prior to joining Cornell, Malte Jung completed a postdoc at the Center for Work, Technology, and Organization at Stanford University. He holds a Diploma in Mechanical Engineering from the Technical University of Munich and Ph.D. Minor in Psychology from Stanford University.

Poruz Khambatta, Stanford GSB

Poruz Khambatta is a PhD candidate in Organizational Behavior at Stanford University. He uses tools from social psychology and artificial intelligence to shed light on how people form and manage first impressions. His research has been published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences as well as the Journal of Experimental Psychology and been featured on CNN, ABC, FOX, and NPR.

Hila Lifshitz-Assaf, New York UNIVERSITY Stern

Hila Lifshitz-Assaf joined New York University Stern School of Business as an Assistant Professor of Information, Operations and Management Sciences in July 2013. She is also a faculty associate at the Berkman Center for Internet and Society at Harvard University. Professor Lifshitz-Assaf’s research focuses on developing an in-depth empirical and theoretical understanding of the micro-foundations of scientific and technological innovation and knowledge creation processes in the digital age. She explores how the ability to innovate is being transformed, as well as the challenges and opportunities the transformation means for R&D organizations, professionals and their work. She conducted an in-depth 3-year longitudinal field study of NASA’s experimentation with open innovation online platforms and communities, resulting in a scientific breakthrough. Her dissertation received the best dissertation Grigor McClelland Award at the European Group for Organizational Studies (EGOS) 2015. She investigates new forms of organizing for the production of scientific and technological innovation such as crowdsourcing, open source, open online innovation communities, Wikipedia, hackathons, makeathons, etc. Prior to academia, Professor Lifshitz-Assaf worked as a strategy consultant for seven years, specializing in growth and innovation strategy in telecommunications, consumer goods and finance. Professor Lifshitz-Assaf earned a doctorate from Harvard Business School, an MBA from Tel Aviv University, magna cum laude, a BA in Management and an LLB in Law from Tel Aviv University, Israel, both magna cum laude.

Sandra Matz, Columbia Business SCHOOL

Sandra Matz is an Assistant Professor in the Management Division at Columbia Business School. Taking a Big Data approach to studying human behavior in a variety of business-related domains, herwork explores the relationships between digital footprints (e.g. Facebook Likes, credit card transactions), people’s psychological characteristics (e.g. their personality), as well as their preferences and choices (e.g. click and purchasing data). More specifically, her research focuses on the following three questions: (1) What can people’s digital footprints tell us about their socio-psychological characteristics? (2) What can people’s digital footprints tell us about the real-life consequences of their unique psychological characteristics? (3) How can insights extracted from people’s digital footprints help individuals and businesses make better decisions?

Deirdre K. Mulligan, UC Berkeley

Deirdre K. Mulligan is an Associate Professor in the School of Information at UC Berkeley, and a faculty Director of the Berkeley Center for Law & Technology. Mulligan’s research explores legal and technical means of protecting values such as privacy, freedom of expression, and fairness in emerging technical systems. Her book, Privacy on the Ground: Driving Corporate Behavior in the United States and Europe, a study of privacy practices in large corporations in five countries, conducted with UC Berkeley Law Prof. Kenneth Bamberger was recently published by MIT Press. Mulligan and Bamberger received the 2016 International Association of Privacy Professionals Leadership Award for their research contributions to the field of privacy protection. Mulligan is currently serving on the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency's Information Science and Technology Advisory Board, the Board of Directors of the Center for Democracy and Technology, a leading advocacy organization protecting global online civil liberties and human rights, and the Board of the Partnership for AI. Prior to joining the School of Information. Mulligan began her academic career as a Clinical Professor of Law, the founding Director of the Samuelson Law, Technology & Public Policy Clinic, and Director of Clinical Programs at the UC Berkeley School of Law. Prior to Berkeley, she served as staff counsel at the Center for Democracy & Technology in Washington, D.C.  Mulligan holds a JD from Georgetown University Law Center and a BA from Smith College.

Byron Reeves, Stanford University

Byron Reeves received a B.F.A. in graphic design from Southern Methodist University and his M.A. and a Ph.D. in communication from Michigan State University. Prior to joining Stanford in 1985, he taught at the University of Wisconsin where he was director of graduate studies and associate chair of the Mass Communication Research Center. He teaches courses in mass communication theory and research, with particular emphasis on psychological processing of interactive media. His research includes message processing, social cognition, and social and emotion responses to media, and has been published in books of collected studies as well as such journals as Human Communication Research, Journal of Social Issues, Journal of Broadcasting, and Journalism Quarterly. He is co-author of The Media Equation: How People Treat Computers, Television, and New Media Like Real People and Places (Cambridge University Press).

Andrew Schwartz, STONY BROOK UNIVERSITY

Andrew Schwartz is an Assistant Professor of Computer Science at Stony Brook University (SUNY) and Co-PI of the World Well-Being Project. His interdisciplinary research focuses on large and scalable language analyses for health and social sciences. Utilizing natural language processing and machine learning techniques he seeks to discover new behavioral and psychological factors of health and well-being as manifest through language in social media. From 2012 to 2015, he was Lead Research Scientist for the World Well-Being Project at the University of Pennsylvania, an interdisciplinary team that grew to 15 full-time researchers studying how big language analyses can reveal and predict differences in health, personality, and well-being.  He received his PhD in Computer Science from the University of Central Florida in 2011 with research on acquiring lexical semantic knowledge from the Web. His work has been featured in The New York Times, Wired, and The Washington Post.