News
PI, Susan Brennan, Gives a talk in 2026 NRT Annual Meeting
Susan Brenna gives a talk in the 2026 NRT Annual Meeting Conference Titled "Breaking Up is Hard to Do" .
"As our traineeship "NRT-HDR: Detecting and Addressing Bias in Data, Humans, and Institutions" nears its no-cost extension, we have learned much about what it takes to prepare students to conduct convergent research across the data sciences and the human-centered data sciences. We will attempt to generalize some of these lessons for other NRT projects and conclude with sustainability: Through both planning and happy accidents, our training model will live on in Stony Brook University’s new Department of Technology, AI, and Society."
Bias-NRT Team Attends 2026 NRT Annual Meeting in Golden, Colorado
From left to right: Atefeh Hamedi (Project Coordinator,) Susan Brennan (Principal Investigator), Weiling Li (Bias-NRT Trainee), and Peter Zeng (Bias-NRT Fellow).
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Bias-NRT Trainee, Presents a paper at the Midwest Economics Association Conference,
2026
March 20-22, 2026
Chicago, IL
Dana Golden (Economics) presented a paper at the Midwest Economics Association Conference, 2026, titled "Investment and the Transfer of Power: Dynamic Effects of Transmission in Electricity Markets"
Participating Faculty Member on Bias-NRT, Jeffrey Heinz, is trying to answer a deceptively simple question: How well, exactly, can today’s neural networks learn, and where do they fail?
Heinz, a professor with a joint appointment in the Department of Linguistics and the Institute of Advanced Computational Science, usually studies the sound patterns of human language. In his latest project, he and his collaborators have built something that looks less like a traditional linguistics study and more like a stress test for modern AI.
Bias-NRT 2026 Research Practicum "AI Perceptions and Biases"
January 28, 2026
Stony Brook University
The BIAS-NRT Spring 2026 Research Practicum sessions are led by Dr. Ritwik Banerjee (Computer Science). Dr. Banerjee is specializing in computational linguistics and its applications to privacy, law, discourse, argumentation, semantics, and pragmatics.
Bias-NRT Fellows Present research at EMNLP 2025
November 4-9, 2025
Suzhou, China
Bias NRT fellows, Peter Zeng (Computer Science), Weiling Li (Cognitive Science) and Jack (Zhengxiang) Wang (Linguistics) presented their collaborative study titled “LVLMs are Bad at Overhearing Human Referential Communication” at the Conference on Empirical Methods in Natural Language Processing (EMNLP 2025).
This project investigates the limitations of large vision language models in overhearing referential communication tasks, highlighting their challenges in perspective-taking and establishing common ground.
Bias-NRT Kicks Off 2025-2026 Academic Year with the first session of weekly research practicum
Stony Brook University
August 27, 2025
This research practicum is entirely designed and led by trainees, under the guidance of Dr. Susan Brennan, Principal Investigator.
Bias-NRT trainee Presents a Poster at 2025 Annual Conference on Cognitive Computational Neuroscience
August 12-15, 2025
Amsterdam, Netherlands
Ritik Raina (Cognitive Science) presented a poster titled "Seen2Scene: a generative model of fixation-by-fixation scene understanding" at the 8th Annual Conference on
Cognitive Computational Neuroscience.
The research is relevant to the understanding of how we can model behaviors of scene generation using gaze information (specifically based on what and where we see in an image).
Bias-NRT Trainee Gives Presentation at Vision Sciences Society (VSS) 2025
May 16-20, 2025
St. Pete Beach, FL
Ritik Raina (Cognitive Science) presented a talk titled "Modeling Human Scene Understanding Using Generative Models" at the Vision Sciences Society (VSS) 2025 conference.
Bias-NRT Fellows Present Poster at 2024 NRT Annual Meeting
October 20-23, 2024
Arlington, VA
Benjamin Hechtman (Applied Math & Statistics) and Alexandra Anthonioz (Social & Health Psychology) presented their collaborative research poster titled, "Quantitative Frameworks for Assessing Equity Gaps in Undergraduate Classrooms: Comparing Learning Across Traditional/Reformed Contexts."
Additionally, Project Coordinator, Kristen Kalb-DellaRatta, presented the Bias-NRT 2024 Project Poster.
Bias-NRT Fellows Present Research at SIGDial 2024
Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan
September 18-20, 2024
Bias-NRT Trainee, Adil Soubki, presents paper, Examining Gender and Power on Wikipedia Through Face and Politeness
Amie Paige, Adil Soubki, and John Murzaku present poster for their paper, Training LLMs to Recognize Hedges in Spontaneous Narratives
Bias-NRT Kicks Off Fall 2024 with Annual Welcome Event
Stony Brook University
August 27, 2024
Back Row: Zhengxiang Wang (Linguistics), Reuben Kline (Bias-NRT Faculty, Political Science), Medhini Urs (Psychology, Cognitive Science), C.R. Ramakrishnan (Co-PI, Computer Science), Owen Rambow (Bias-NRT Faculty, Linguistics), Brett Indelicato (Economics), Evan West (Computer Science), and Gilvir Gill (Computer Science).
Middle Row: Amie Paige (Psychology, Cognitive Science), Susan Brennan (PI, Psychology, Cognitive Science), Amit Kumar Das (Computer Science), Adil Soubki (Computer Science), Karin Hasegawa (Applied Math & Statistics), Dasha Likhacheva (Psychology, Social & Health), Ritik Raina (Psychology, Cognitive Science), Ignacio Urbina (Political Science), Rosa Bermejo (Psychology, Social & Health ), Carl Wiedemann (Psychology, Social & Health), Sri Jangili (Political Science), Tina Behzad (Computer Science), Alexandra Anthonioz (Psychology, Social & Health), Kiera Gross (Computer Science), Benjy Hechtman (Applied Math & Statistics), MacKenzie Johnson (Psychology, Cognitive Science), and James May (Psychology, Cognitive Science).
Front Row: Kristen Kalb-DellaRatta (Project Coordinator)
Bias-NRT Faculty and Trainee Featured in SBU News
H. Andrew Schwartz, associate profess of Computer Science, and Gilvir Gill, PhD candidate in Computer Science, were recently featured in the SBU News article, "Using AI and Social Media to Track Depression in Communities. "
"A study led by Stony Brook University researchers used artificial intelligence (AI) and social media posts to assess the rates of depression and anxiety in nearly half of American counties, and found that the measurements produced more reliable assessments than population surveys.
PI Susan Brennan Featured in SBU Magazine
Stony Brook University Magazine, Spring 2024
"The Reality of AI"
By Rob Emproto
"Artificial intelligence (AI) — the ability of a computer program or machine to learn, react and interact meaningfully — has been grabbing headlines for some time now, and for good reason. It is all around us, visible in ways we never imagined. With the use of AI, computer programs can write stories, create art and music, and converse with humans, but what it can’t do is think for itself — it only can understand information input by humans."
Bias-NRT Fellow, Rosa Bermejo, and Trainee, Alexandra Athonioz, Present Posters at
The Society for Personality and Social Psychology 2024 Annual Convention
San Diego, California
February 8-10, 2024
Rosa and Alex are both students in the Department of Psychology's Social and Health program and are working with Dr. Bonita London.
Social Media and Social Networks: College Student Experiences with Vicarious Racism
Rosa M. Bermejo and Dr. Bonita London
Retention of Underrepresented Students in STEM: Lessons from Stony Brook's Simons
STEM Scholars Program
Alexandra Anthonioz, Chelsie O. Burchett, Toni Pena, Erwin Cabrera, Natasha McCombs,
Brady Brick, Catherine Scott, and Dr. Bonita London
Bias-NRT Trainees and Fellows Attend the Women in AI Ethics 2023 Annual Summit
New York, New York
December 1, 2023
Top row: Ritik Raina (Department of Psychology, Cognitive Science), Tina Behzad (Bias-NRT
Trainee, Department of Computer Science), Rosa Bermejo (Bias-NRT Fellow, Department
of Psychology, Social & Health), and Dana Golden (Bias-NRT Fellow, Department of
Economics).
Front row: Alexandra Anthonioz (Bias-NRT Trainee, Department of Psychology, Social
& Health), MacKenzie Johnson (Bias-NRT Trainee, Department of Psychology, Cognitive
Science), Kalina Kostyszyn (Bias-NRT Fellow, Department of Linguistics), and Amie
Paige (Bias-NRT Fellow, Department of Psychology, Cognitive Science).
Bias-NRT Trainee, Medhini Urs, Presents Poster at the Society for Judgment and Decision
Making 2023 Annual Meeting
San Francisco, California
November 17-20, 2023
Medhini is a fourth-year PhD student in the Department of Psychology's Cognitive Science Program and is working with Dr. Christian Luhmann.
Extracting information from obstetricians' judgments using order-constrained models
Alexandra Ortmann, Medhini Urs, Daniel R. Cavagnaro, Michel Regenwetter, Christian
C. Luhmann
Bias-NRT Trainee, James May, Gives Talk at Pscyhonomic Society's 2023 Annual Meeting
November 16-19, 2023
San Francisco, California
James is a second-year PhD student in the Department of Psychology's Cognitive Science Program and is working with Dr. Susan Brennan.
A Brief Intervention to Help Listeners Process an Unfamiliar Non-Native Accent
James May, Jeanne Charoy, Emily Napoli, Chikako Takahashi, Jean Hendrickson, Marie
Huffman, and Susan E. Brennan
Participating Faculty Member on Bias-NRT, Klaus Mueller, Named 2024 IEEE Fellow
"Professor Klaus Mueller, from the Department of Computer Science at Stony Brook University, was recently recognized by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) Board of Directors as a 2024 IEEE Fellow for contributions in image reconstruction and visualization. IEEE is a professional organization dedicated to the advancement of technology for the benefit of humanity. This is a tremendous honor as less than 0.1% of the voting members are selected for this elevation."
Watch Bias-NRT Fellows, Carl Wiedemann and Kalina Kostyszyn, present their paper, A Computational Decision Tree Approach to Inform Post-Conviction Intake Decisions, at The Innocence Project's 2023 Just Data Conference!
Bias-NRT Team Attends 2023 NRT Annual Meeting in Tempe, Arizona
From left to right: Kristen Kalb-DellaRatta (Project Coordinator,) Catherine Good (Project Evaluator), Kalina Kostyszyn (Bias-NRT Fellow), and Carl J. Wiedemann (Bias-NRT Fellow)
Bias-NRT Fellow, Evan West, Awarded the Nisha and Vinod Singhi Fellowship
"The Nisha and Vinod K. Singhi Graduate Fellowship was created by Vinod Singhi ‘83, an alumnus of Stony Brook University’s Department of Computer Science. The Singhi family created this generous fellowship to reciprocate the way that Vinod felt supported during his time at Stony Brook.
Through this fellowship, in May 2023, doctoral student Evan West was awarded $5,000 to support his education and research. West is the first Singhi Fellow selected for the award."
NSF Spotlights Bias-NRT
In an exclusive interview with PI, Susan Brennan, and Project Coordinator, Kristen Kalb-DellaRatta, NSF highlights Bias-NRT's impact and mission to bridge the data sciences and human-centered sciences through convergent research projects. Brennan speaks about the motivations for the NRT and how the project is training graduate students to be ethical in their research by examining their own biases as well as the biases in the data and institutions around them. Reflecting on Bias-NRT's first year, the article focuses on the research efforts of the Post-Conviction Project and their goal to create a transparent ML framework for Innocence Organizations combatting wrongful convictions.
Bias-NRT Obtains SUNY and NYSED Approval for the Advanced Graduate Certificate in Human-Centered Data Science
The Bias-NRT Team worked with the Graduate School and the Provost's Office in order to obtain SUNY and NYSED approval for this AGC. Trainees, Fellows, and other PhD students from participating departments are eligible to enroll for the upcoming Spring 2024 semester.
Bias-NRT's Post Conviction Project Presenting at The Innocence Project's Just Data: Advancing the Innocence Movement Conference
Using machine learning and data analytic tools, The Post-Conviction Project is working to develop a transparent and user-friendly framework that can support intake decisions for Innocence Organization staff. On November 9th, 2023 lead authors, Kalina Kostyszyn and Carl Wiedemann, will present their paper titled, A Computational Decision-Tree Approach to Inform Post-Conviction Intake Decisions. The paper will be published in the associated issue of The Wrongful Conviction Law Review.
RSVP to the 2023 Just Data: Advancing the Innocence Movement Conference:
Bias-NRT Trainee, Alexandra Anthonioz, Highlighted in Department of Psychology's October Newsletter
"Alexandra Anthonioz (Social & Health PhD Candidate) published a first author paper in Modern Psychology Studies titled "Stepping Beyond the Bars: A Comparative Analysis of Personality Traits in Previously Incarcerated Males and Females". This study sought to explore differences in a previously incarcerated individual’s personality traits based on biological sex and the potential impacts these findings may have on incarceration and our criminal justice system as whole. "
PI, Susan Brennan, speaks on Council for Graduate Schools' Plenary Panel,
Preparing Graduate Students to Address Bias in Data Science
Panel Speakers: Nicol Turner Lee (Senior Fellow, Governance Studies and Director,
Center for Technology Innovation, Brookings Institution) and Susan Brennan (Distinguished
Professor, Department of Psychology, Stony Brook University)
Moderator: Michael Cunningham, Associate Provost, Graduate Studies and Research, Tulane
University
"The interdisciplinary field of data science holds out great promise for research and innovation. All too often, however, graduate students are exposed to the promises of data science and artificial intelligence without an understanding of the biases that may be inherent in their methods and applications. This session will consider some of the risks of bias in data science as well as a model for preparing graduate students to anticipate and respond to this challenge."
Bias-NRT Trainee, Sekine Ozturk, Presented Poster at the Society for Affective Science 2023 Conference
Facial Expressions May Forecast Depression Diagnosis in 5 Years
Sekine Ozturk, M.A., Roman Kotov, Ph.D., Aprajita Mohanty, Ph.D.
Bias-NRT Fellow, Rosa Bermejo, Will Be Joining the Office of Inspector General (OIG) for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) as a Summer Intern!
Rosa Bermejo joined Bias-NRT in the fall of 2022 and has shown herself to be a leader amongst our trainees. Rosa is currently co-leading a newly formed research project dealing with wrongful convictions and an exploration of the National Registry of Exonerations. Rosa is a 4th year PhD student in the Social and Health Psychology program, advised by Dr. Bonita London, Co-PI on Bias-NRT. Congratulations, Rosa!