Data Science Institute
Center for Technological Responsibility, Reimagination and Redesign
Date December 11, 2024
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Brown CS annual Conduit magazine highlights how CNTR is putting people first.

This December’s Conduit issue, published annually by Brown’s Department of Computer Science, highlights the Center for Technological Responsibility, Re-imagination, and Redesign (CNTR)’s faculty and student research that recenters technology around human needs.

“Putting People First: The Center For Technological Responsibility, Re-imagination, And Redesign”

By Jesse C. Polhemus

Last year, Brown announced the founding of the Center for Technological Responsibility, Reimagination and Redesign (CNTR), whose mission is to redefine computer science education, research, and technology to center the needs, problems, and aspirations of all, especially those that technology has left behind. Already numbering more than two dozen affiliated faculty, postdocs, staff scientists, and students from units across campus, the CNTR’s projects include sociotechnical evaluation of large language models (LLMs), genetic data governance, a framework development for evaluating legislative proposals concerning artificial intelligence (AI), and more. Below, we examine the values that animate the CNTR, meet the people who have joined together in its work, and explore the areas where it expects to have an impact both at Brown and in the daily lives of people around the world.

Read the full article in Conduit, available here. 

Conduit archive

“We have a moment in front of us right now, that’s been a long time coming, where something like the CNTR becomes necessary. It must exist, and it must exist at Brown as a counterweight to voices, some in academia, that aren’t independent enough of what the tech industry wants, or what powerful actors want. ...I’m amazed and inspired by the work the CNTR is doing, and I take it very seriously because we have a chance to change what’s happening around us every single day.”
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Suresh Venkatasubramanian, Director of CNTR, Professor of Computer Science and Data Science

“...Something unique about the CNTR...is that it’s being co-created in a bottom-up way, rather than having a predefined, top-down agenda. This approach also aligns really well with Brown’s culture.” Harini’s current research is motivated by reimaging a version of AI that is more grassroots, participatory, and accountable to the public than it is currently. She says that the CNTR was a major contributor to her decision to come to Brown.
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Harini Suresh, Assistant Professor of Computer Science.

“The CNTR, in just its first year, has created strong connections between data science at Brown and the humanities, social sciences, and public health. This really distinguishes Brown from our peers, and has helped us center people when discussing the benefits and costs of deploying technology. The CNTR is also an important connector between the DSI and Brown CS, helping us think about how programs like Socially Responsible Computing and the Data Science Fellows can be scaled and have a campus-wide impact.”
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Sohini Ramachandran, Professor of Computer Science, Founding Director of the Data Science Institute

“In [our] joint work with the ACLU, we took a deep dive into some questions in model evaluation – the part in the machine learning pipeline that happens after a model has been trained, and before it’s put to use outside of the lab. We were interested in determining why a specific metric, the ‘Area Under the Curve’ (AUC), had become the de facto evaluation standard for models that make high-stakes decisions in areas like recidivism, student educational outcomes, or child welfare. I was driven to this problem
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Kweku Kwegyir-Aggrey, PhD Student in Computer Science at CNTR

“I really appreciate the full name of the CNTR, how all three Rs are important...Here at Brown CS, the Socially Responsible Computing program does a great job of explaining responsibility, but it’s not enough for students to be conscious of the impact of their work. They’re stuck in a system where they’re cognizant of harm but sometimes still causing it, and for me that’s not a solution – the incentive structures need to change. Reimagination and redesign are the next steps. Making change is the path forwar
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Jennifer Wang, Undergraduate student in Computer Science, Founder of the Paragon Policy Fellowship