While AI-driven systems hold the potential to streamline hiring processes, the issue of hiring discrimination has emerged as a pressing global concern as AI-automated recruitment tools gain widespread adoption. For instance, in August 2023, the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) reached a landmark settlement with iTutorGroup, a Chinese education technology company, marking the first US case to address AI-driven hiring bias with a foreign company. iTutorGroup was accused of rejecting over 200 candidates solely based on age, a protected status in the US, highlighting the serious ethical risks that AI-driven hiring processes can pose.

As automated tools for job posting, resume screening, and video interviews become more prevalent worldwide, they increasingly influence employment opportunities, often affecting marginalized groups such as women, ethnic minorities, and individuals with disabilities. Addressing bias in these systems demands a collaborative, cross-border effort to design and deploy ethical frameworks, regulatory priorities, and technological innovations to establish a global standard.

This research was conducted by Huaigu Li, Ph.D. student in computer science at the Georgia Institute of Technology, and Michael L. Best, professor at the Sam Nunn School of International Affairs and the School of Interactive Computing at the Georgia Institute of Technology.

Read the full article in Tech Policy Press (Jan 31, 2025) >>

Resilience hubs are trusted, community-serving facilities designed to support residents and coordinate communication and resources in everyday life; and before, during, and after disruptions. Environmental disruptions such as hurricane damage, coastal erosion, flood damage, extreme heat, and wildfire destruction are occurring more frequently and with greater economic costs. 

On November 21, 2024, a team from Georgia Tech met with nine other organizations at the Penn Center on St. Helena Island in South Carolina to work towards developing targeted resilience strategies to cope with environmental disaster events. More specifically, the Penn Center workshop’s overall goal was the co-creation of paths toward building community-led and -engaged, scientifically supported resilience hubs, addressing the unique challenges faced by coastal and inland vulnerable communities in the Southeastern United States.

A common definition of community resilience is “the sustained ability of a community to use available resources to respond to, withstand, and recover from adverse situations.”

Part of the process to build these action research partnerships and resilience plans is to bring together community leaders, government representatives, and an interdisciplinary team of researchers—many of whom are from Georgia Tech. Georgia Tech researchers bring expertise from science, engineering, design, humanities, and social sciences.

As part of the workshop, 15 Georgia Tech architecture students presented their design models for a multipurpose 20,000 square-foot building designed for the Penn Center campus which is steeped in African American history.

Some of the researchers at Georgia Tech attending the workshop and supporting the development of Southeastern community-focused resilience strategies included: 

• Sofía Pérez-Guzmán, assistant professor in the School of Civil & Environmental Engineering; 
• Allen Hyde, associate professor in the School of History and Sociology, and faculty member of the Institute for People and Technology; 
• Danielle Willkens, associate professor in the School of Architecture and faculty member of the Institute for People and Technology; 
• Alexander Robel, associate professor in the School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences; 
• Jennifer Hirsch, director of the Center for Sustainable Communities Research and Education at Georgia Tech;  
• Valerie M. Thomas, Anderson-Interface Chair of Natural Systems and professor in the H. Milton School of Industrial and Systems Engineering with a joint appointment in the School of Public Policy; 
• Joe F. Bozeman III, assistant professor in the School of Civil and Environmental Engineering with a joint appointment in the School of Public Policy; 
• Russell Clark, lead principal investigator of the Coastal Equity and Resilience Hub and senior research scientist at the Institute for People and Technology; 
• Nicole Kennard, assistant director for community-engaged research in the Brook Byers Institute for Sustainable Systems; and 
• Jung-Ho Lewe, senior research engineer in the Daniel Guggenheim School of Aerospace Engineering.

Participating partner organizations in addition to the Penn Center include:

• 7 Dimensions Outreach
• Atlanta Preservation Center
• Center for Sustainable Communities 
• Coastal Conservation League 
• Community Church Atlanta
• Furman University
• Gullah Geechee Futures Project
• University of South Carolina: Arnold School of Public Health, the EJ Strong Program, and the Department of Environmental Health Science
• Willson Center for Humanities and Arts at the University of Georgia

 

This work is supported by a Georgia Tech Sustainability Next research seed grant. The seed grant program is administered by the Brook Byers Institute for Sustainable Systems (BBIS) in collaboration with the Renewable Bioproducts Institute (RBI), the Strategic Energy Institute (SEI), and the Institute for People and Technology (IPaT). The program nurtures promising areas for future large-scale collaborative sustainability research, research translation, and high-impact outreach; provides mid-career faculty with leadership and community-building opportunities; and broadens and strengthens the Georgia Tech sustainability community as a whole.

Three Georgia Tech faculty members are being recognized as 2024 ACM Fellows for significant contributions to computing.

College of Computing Professors Michael Bailey, Dana Randall, and Thad Starner are among 55 Fellows named today by ACM, the Association for Computing Machinery, for their “transformative contributions to computing science and technology.”

"Computing technology has had a tremendous impact in shaping how we live and work today,” said ACM President Yannis Ioannidis. “The ACM Fellows program honors the creativity and hard work of ACM members whose specific accomplishments drive innovation and make broader advances possible.”

According to its news release, ACM is recognizing Bailey, founding chair of the School of Cybersecurity and Privacy, for his “contributions to cybersecurity and internet measurement.” Bailey has authored more than 90 papers on the performance and security of complex distributed systems.

Randall is a professor with joint appointments in the School of Computer Science and the School of Mathematics. The ACM fellowship acknowledges her “contributions to the theory of Markov chains and programmable active matter.” Her research in randomized algorithms and stochastic processes connects computer science, discrete mathematics, and statistical physics.

A professor in the School of Interactive Computing, Starner is being honored as an ACM Fellow for “contributions to and leadership in the wearable computing research community.” His research combines wearable and ubiquitous computing technologies with AI, pattern recognition, and human-computer interaction. 

Starner, Randall, and Bailey are longstanding ACM members. The 2024 ACM Fellows were selected by the ACM membership “for making possible the computing technologies we use every day.”

"We congratulate Michael Bailey, Dana Randall, and Thad Starner on this significant achievement. Their contributions to the field of computing have not only advanced knowledge but have also benefited society,” said College of Computing Dean Vivek Sarkar.

“We are fortunate to have such distinguished colleagues from different schools in our College. Their achievements are a source of pride for us at Georgia Tech and will continue to inspire future generations of computer scientists."

ACM will formally recognize the 2024 Fellows at its annual awards banquet on June 14 in San Francisco. Additional information about the 2024 ACM Fellows is available through the ACM Fellows website.