NEW YORK (TIP): Aditya Vashistha an Assistant Professor of Information Science at Cornell University has received Google Research Award. He designs and builds computing systems to empower people in low-resource environments. Vashistha’s team will use human-centered AI to combat online harassment of marginalized women and build gender-equitable social computing platforms. The team will explore ways to make voice forums – phone-based communication platforms commonly used by millions of people around the world who are too poor, remote or low-literate to access the internet – more inclusive and equitable for women.

The goal of the Google Faculty Research Awards program is to recognize cutting-edge research in mutual areas of interest and to “identify and strengthen long-term collaborative relations with faculty working on problems that will impact how future generations use technology,” according to its website.

Vashistha’s research focuses on building appropriate computing systems to achieve social good of people in low-resource environments. More broadly, his work lies at the intersection of Human-Computer Interaction (HCI), ICT & Development (ICTD), and Accessibility. He completed a Ph.D. in Computer Science and Engineering at the University of Washington. His research has been recognized in the form of Facebook Access Innovation Prize, USAID Seed Grant, Facebook Graduate Fellowship, as well as best paper awards at premier HCI venues. His research has transitioned into large-scale, real-world products that have reached an estimated 220,000 people in Africa and South Asia.