Fil Menczer (left) and Patrick Shih
The Association for Computing Machinery has bestowed two prestigious honors on faculty members from the Luddy School of Informatics, Computing, and Engineering.
Distinguished Professor of Informatics and Computer Science Fil Menczer has been recognized as an ACM Fellow, which honors the top 1 percent of ACM members for their outstanding accomplishments in computing and information technology, and/or outstanding service to the ACM and the larger computing community. Assistant Professor of Informatics Patrick Shih has also been named an ACM Senior Member, a status conferred upon those who are considered to be among the top 25 percent of ACM members for their demonstrated excellence in the computing field.
“The Luddy School has built a reputation as a world leader in technology research and innovation, and these honors are signs that prove the reputation is well-founded,” said Dennis Groth, interim dean of the Luddy School. “Fil and Patrick have long been conducting groundbreaking work, and their efforts to push the boundaries of their fields are helping push computing and our school into tomorrow.”
Menczer’s research focuses on understanding how online social networks and social media can be manipulated by malicious actors and the damage that can result from the spread of online misinformation. He also develops tools to combat this critical issue.
“The award means a lot because my research is not in a mainstream area of computer science,” Menczer said. “My work is applied and interdisciplinary, at the boundary between data science, AI, network science, web science, and computational social science. So, the ACM Fellowship is both a recognition of the breadth of computing research and of the impact that interdisciplinary research can have.”
Shih’s work focuses the design, development, and evaluation of sociotechnical systems and community-based mechanisms that can support the health and wellbeing of humans and animals with an eye on amplifying human and animal capabilities in animal-assisted interventions.
“I am extremely passionate about supporting the health and wellbeing of the underserved and vulnerable populations,” Shih said. “Professional milestone awards say as much about the individual accomplishments as the people, environment, and culture that help foster such success. I couldn't have accomplished enough to deserve being recognized for the ACM Senior Member award without the support from the department and the school in the past five and a half years since I joined IU.”
The ACM announced the honors in mid-January.