Events Calendar

CS Distinguished Lecture: Cynthia Dwork (Harvard University) - Skewed or Rescued? The Emerging Theory of Algorithmic Fairness

Speaker: Cynthia Dwork, Harvard University

Talk Title: Skewed or Rescued? The Emerging Theory of Algorithmic Fairness

Series: Computer Science Distinguished Lecture Series

Abstract: Data, algorithms, and systems have biases embedded within them reflecting designers' explicit and implicit choices, historical biases, and societal priorities. They form, literally and inexorably, a codification of values. 'Unfairness' of algorithms - for tasks ranging from advertising to recidivism prediction - has attracted considerable attention in the popular press. The talk will discuss recent work in the nascent mathematically rigorous study of fairness in classification and scoring.

This lecture satisfies requirements for CSCI 591: Research Colloquium.


Biography: Cynthia Dwork, the Gordon McKay Professor of Computer Science at the John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences at Harvard, the Radcliffe Alumnae Professor at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, and an Affiliated Faculty Member at Harvard Law School, is renowned for placing privacy-preserving data analysis on a mathematically rigorous foundation. With seminal contributions in cryptography, distributed computing, and ensuring statistical validity, her most recent focus is on fairness in classification algorithms. Dwork is a member of the US National Academy of Sciences, the US National Academy of Engineering, and the American Philosophical Society, and is a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and of the ACM.


Host: Computer Science Department

Location: Henry Salvatori Computer Science Center (SAL) - 101

Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

Contact: Computer Science Department