Emerging research reveals the blurred lines between humans and technology

Using cutting-edge data and analysis, this new book shares the impact of our rapidly growing digitized society.

These new insights into human behavior are just some of the examples coming out of a recently published book detailing the impact of our digitized society. In the increasingly blurred lines between our engagement via technology versus in person, surprising insights are starting to emerge about the power of both language and medium to predict behavior and outcomes.

Northeastern University’s College of Professional Studies Associate Dean of Research, Francesca Grippa, is the co-editor of a recently published book on social computing. The Handbook of Social Computing reveals the intricate patterns of interaction between individuals, machines, and organizations.

Grippa, an expert in digital collaboration tools, human computer interaction and social network analysis, is on the frontlines of research that seeks to explore the shifting landscape of our relationship with technology.

In this most recently published book, she collaborated with a global network of peers from MIT, University of Perugia (Italy) and Kozminski University (Poland).

“The impact of our digitized society on social behavior is accelerating as we adopt new technologies across all areas of our lives,” Grippa said. “We must study the effects of human-machine interaction as they happen in order to comprehend the gains, losses, biases introduced, and the influence on decision-making processes.”

Francesca Grippa

The book covers computer science, AI, sociology, and psychology, exploring social computing from all angles. Delving into social networks, algorithmic decision-making, ethical implications of AI, data privacy, and more, The Handbook showcases how digital technologies can analyze social behavior, interaction patterns, and enhance daily life, making it essential for students, scholars, and professionals in the field of human dynamics and social network analysis.

Small Business Owner Makes Big Move in Support of Ukraine

For more than ten years, College of Professional Studies alumna Natalie Kaminski ’06 owned a successful software company outside of Moscow. But when Russia attacked Ukraine earlier this year, the childhood she spent living in Ukraine spurred Kaminski’s decision to quickly help dozens of employees and the business move across the border to Georgia.

After a narrow escape, the company and its employees are making their way in a new home.

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Experiential Excellence Celebrated—Students and Employers Both See Benefit

With experience-driven learning a cornerstone of a Northeastern education, the College of Professional Studies presented its annual Experiential Excellence award to 10 students in June. Students, and the employers and sponsors who supervised their work and nominated them for recognition, gathered with faculty and other academic leaders to celebrate the power of applied learning at the undergraduate and graduate levels. All student winners engaged in meaningful professional experience in the form of co-op positions (working full-time for an employer), a sponsored project in their course or capstone, or an experiential project at their current place of work. Students’ experiences were directly aligned with their academic work, complementing the body of knowledge in their chosen field with an industry-embedded perspective.

Notably, the Excellence award winners demonstrated outstanding commitment to the university partners they partnered with on experiential opportunity. These opportunities are broad and representative of the global reach Northeastern and its student benefit from. This year, the students’ work included planning and implementing a talent acquisition strategy for an education organization, strengthening digital engagement for an arts and advocacy organization, and creating and managing a quality assurance program in the regulatory affairs unit of a contract development and manufacturing organization, among other outstanding experiences. The common thread though all of the students’ work is their enthusiasm for their chosen industries and their demonstrated ability to connect their academic learning to practice in the workplace, ultimately producing incredibly valuable work for their sponsors and employers.

One award winner, Michel Jennings, is a spring 2019 graduate of the Master of Education in eLearning and Instructional design program. She traveled from Denver, where she attended the program as an online student, to participate in the awards ceremony and celebrate her new job in instructional design over lunch with Melissa Fristrom, leadership development consultant and CEO of Core Allies, Inc., Jennings’ project sponsor. In her project for Core Allies, Inc., Jennings turned a Career Transition Lesson Plan into a 10-class interactive course, essentially creating a new product and revenue stream for Core Allies. Fristrom praised Jennings’ strategic approach to the project: “She asked the right questions to help me be creative and innovative. She demonstrated a desire to understand what I was looking for as a business person.” Jennings notes that another ingredient to the success of the project was her own interest: “It helped that I was super-passionate about this topic.” Jennings said that the two reasons she chose the Northeastern Master of Education in eLearning and Instructional Design program were the opportunity to create an ePortfolio of her work, which she saw as critical to landing a good job upon graduating, and the opportunity to undertake an experiential project.

Indeed, Northeastern faculty and staff in attendance were moved by each award winner’s sentiment on the importance of experiential work alongside their academic curriculum; all students remarked on the lasting impact their experience has had on their professional skillset and career trajectory.

Following are the 2019 Experiential Excellence Award winners:

Mariella Hidalgo Del Alamo—Master of Science in Leadership

Abhishek Jaiswal—Master of Professional Studies in Analytics

Sanchi Jain—Master of Science in Regulatory Affairs of Drugs, Biologics and Devices

Suwarna Kale, Weipeng Zhang, Yiyi Zhang, Jaspreet Kaur Sawhney—Master of Professional Studies in  Informatics

Amanda Nolan—Bachelor of Science in Health Management

Molly Chase—Master of Science in Corporate and Organizational Communication

For more information on experiential learning opportunities, please visit: https://cps.northeastern.edu/experiential-learning.