Pitt Cyber Accelerator Grants (PCAG) provide initial funding for novel and innovative projects that advance Pitt Cyber’s mission: to bring the breadth of one of the world’s leading public research universities to bear on the critical questions of networks, data, and algorithms, with a focus on the ever-changing gaps among law, policy, and technology.
PCAG funding is to be used especially to advance projects that establish and extend key intellectual infrastructures, such as research and teaching in methods with broad application and utility across disciplines, and projects that bring together researchers, teachers, and/or students across fields of interest.
PCAG funding may be particularly useful in launching transdisciplinary projects that may later attract funding and sponsorship within the university, and/or from government, philanthropic, and industry partners.
Fall 2022 Recipients
Utilizing Edutainment and Motivational Interviewing to Address Dis- and Misinformation in the Healthcare Setting
This project brings together collaborators to develop and implement a seminar for physician assistant students. The seminar will use clips from popular medical television shows to teach students about responding to dis- and misinformation in the healthcare setting using motivational interviewing.
Beth Hoffman, Postdoctoral Associate, Behavioral and Community Health Sciences, School of Public Health; Jaime Sidani, Assistant Professor of Medicine, Center for Research on Behavioral Health, Media, and Technology, School of Public Health; Anna Donovan, Associate Professor of Medicine, Associate Program Director for the Internal Medicine Residency Training Program at UPMC; Antoine Douaihy, Senior Academic Director of Addiction Medicine Services and Co-Director of the UPMC Tobacco Treatment Services; Bridget Calhoun, Associate Dean for Academic Affairs, Duquesne University; Ariel Shensa, Assistant Professor, Rangos School of Health Sciences, Duquesne University
Investigating Adoption and Reusability of Data and Digital Literacy Materials
This project will examine adoption and reuse of data and digital literacy open educational resources for library professionals.
Elizabeth Monk, Research Specialist, University Center for Social and Urban Research; Jessica Ghiliani, Associate Professor of Communication, Pitt Greensburg; Chelsea Gunn, Teaching Assistant Professor, Department of Information Culture and Data Stewardship, School of Computing and Information; Eleanor Mattern, Teaching Assistant Professor, School of Computing and Information; Veena Vasudevan, Assistant Professor, Digital Media and Learning, School of Education
Online Violence Against Women in Politics (Online VAW-P)
As women’s participation in politics increases, so does their risk of becoming victims of political violence. The Online Violence Against Women in Politics (Online VAW-P) project will investigate this new and growing threat against women politicians and political candidates by documenting the extent and scope of online violence that women politicians face on Twitter in two countries - Turkey and Brazil- during the six months leading up to national elections.
Mihriban Finkel, Assistant Prof of Int'l Dev, Director of Ford Institute, Co-Director of GIRL, Graduate School of Public and International Affairs; Keila Grinberg, Professor, Department of History, Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences; Steven Finkel, Daniel H. Wallace Professor of Political Science, Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences; Lisa Nelson, Associate Professor, Graduate School of Public and International Affairs
Sustaining the Scholarly Information Ecosystems Community at Pitt
This grant will establish an infrastructure to support and extend the established informal network of information and digital studies Pitt faculty, staff, and students. Through a more unified “Information Ecosystems” community network supported by a website and communications channels, existing members of this scholarly ecosystem will be able to share events and research and pedagogical interests with one another.
Nora Mattern, Assistant Teaching Professor; Director of the Sara Fine Institute, School of Computing and Information; Annette Vee, Associate Professor of English and Director of the Composition Program, Department of English, Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences; Alison Langmead, Clinical Associate Professor and Director, Visual Media Workshop; Associate Professor, School of Computing and Information
Metaverse in Global East Asia: Digital Privacy and Economic Inclusion
This project seeks to explore how social and cultural differences lead to various Metaverse-related challenges on policies of digital privacies and economies, with a special focus on how East Asian governments, corporations, and users respond to these challenges differently than the United States.
Song Shi, Visiting Assistant Professor, Department of Informatics and Networked Systems, School of Computing and Information; Kun Qian, Associate Professor of Modern Chinese Literature and Film, Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences; Kay Shimizu, Assistant Professor, Graduate School of Public and International Affairs; Kuo-Ting Huang, Assistant Professor, School of Computing and Information
Towards an Adaptive Voice User Interface of Navigation Apps for People with Disabilities
This project will design an adaptive voice user interface (VUI) for navigation apps that meets People with Disabilities (PwD)’s needs and preferences by exploring a variety of navigation scenarios. Navigation apps with an adaptive VUI can help PwD improve their quality of life and social independence by being able to perform mobility activities easier and more frequently.
Na Du, Assistant Professor, Department of Informatics and Networked Systems, School of Computing and Information; Hassan Karimi, Professor, School of Computing and Information; John Mclnerney, Advocate Stake Holder, Low Vision
A Sampling and Modeling Framework to Counter Online Conspiratorial Propaganda
In recent years, conspiratorial narratives targeting a certain social group or racial demographic have been cited as a motivation for a number of hate- or prejudice-based violent incidents in the US and across the globe. This project aims to trace and counter the influence of conspiratorial propaganda on the public in online space by studying the population-level networks.
Yu-Ru Lin, Associate Professor, School of Computing and Information; Balaji Palanisamy, Associate Professor, School of Computing and Information; Michael Colaresi, Professor, Distinguished Faculty, Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences; Amin Rahimian, Assistant Professor, Swanson School of Engineering
Spring/Summer 2022 Recipients
Analyzing Information Ecosystems in Western Pennsylvania
This effort intends to develop key data infrastructure and analysis protocols for significant disinformation flows in Western Pennsylvania, including related to vaccinations and election administration for the Pitt Disinformation Lab.
Michael Colaresi, William S. Dietrich II Professor, Political Science, Dietrich School of Arts & Sciences; Pitt Cyber Research and Academic Director; Affiliate Scholar, Intelligent Systems Program Jessica Ghilani, Associate Professor of Communication, Pitt Greensburg
Lara Putnam, UCIS Research Professor of History, Dietrich School of Arts & Sciences
Covid Disinformation in Western Pennsylvania and Rio de Janeiro Seminar Development
Development of a seminar for researchers at the Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro and the University of Pittsburgh for the development of a collaboration to estimate the causal effect of disruptive vaccine disinformation on avoidable deaths.
Keila Grinberg, Director of the Center for Latin American Studies and Professor of History at the University of Pittsburgh
Scaling Up Cyber Physical Systems Security Education - From Theory to Practice
To develop a testbed that integrates with Pitt’s Cyber Range and allows students to work together to explore how cyber-physical systems can be attacked and defended.
Ahmed Ibrahim, Teaching Assistant Professor, School of Computing and Information
Daniel Cole, Associate Professor, Swanson School of Engineering; Director of Stephen R. Tritch Nuclear Engineering Program
Hour of Code and CEC/English Community Liaison and Digital Infrastructure
To continue building the infrastructure to bring Hour of Code events to 4-10th graders from under-resourced schools in Homewood.
Gayle Rogers, Andrew W. Mellon Professor, Chair of English, Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences
Jessica FitzPatrick, Lecturer, Director of Digital Narrative and Interactive Design Program, English Department, Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences
Modeling Threats to Sustainability of Social Networks as Critical Infrastructure
To develop a proof-of-concept for analyzing the coevolution of systematic threats under a unifying framework.
Amin Rahimian, Assistant Professor, Swanson School of Engineering
Jacob Otto, PhD student, Political Science, Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences
Extended Reality Tour of a Media Archaeology Lab to Widen Access to Material Resources Representing a History of Technology
To design and implement an extended reality (XR) tour of the Media Archeology Lab (MAL) at University of Colorado-Boulder to enable Pitt learners to virtually access MAL’s rich media holdings.
Jessica FitzPatrick, Lecturer, Director of Digital Narrative and Interactive Design Program, English Department, Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences
libi Striegl, Lab Manager, Media Archeology Lab, University of Colorado
Annette Vee, Associate Professor of English and Director of the Composition Program, Department of English
Dmitriy Babichenko, Clinical Associate Professor, School of Computing and Information
Studying Trust in Civic Data Portals and its Potential for Enhancement
To develop a better understanding of how intermediary organizations can enhance the trustworthiness of civic data. The proposed project will also help to identify research questions that can be explored in collaboration with Pitt faculty.
David Walker, Lead Software Developer, Western Pennsylvania Regional Data Center University Center for Social & Urban Research
Jacob Biehl, Assistant Professor, School of Computing and Information
Robert Gradeck, Project Director, Western Pennsylvania Regional Data Center, University Center for Social & Urban Research
See the full list of projects funded through the Pitt Cyber Accelerator Grants Program.