Dr. Dana Calacci

Assistant Professor

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Biography

Dana Calacci studies the socio-technical legal impacts of datafication and AI in communities, especially worker groups. Her collaborations, such as the Workers Algorithm Observatory, focus on directing, designing, and deploying technologies that aim to answer pressing questions about the impact of AI and new platforms on surveillance in people's lives. Dana received her Ph.D. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Media Lab in 2023, and her B.S. in computer science from Northeastern University in 2015. She has experience as a startup co-founder and is a mixed-media artist. Her writing has been featured in major publications including NPR's Radiolab, Gizmodo, Wired, Reuters, and Atlantic’s CityLab. Dana leads initiatives like Crowdsourced AI Audits, which involve teams of experts auditing AI tools and systems to understand risks. She engages directly with communities to crowdsource data on AI impacts to ensure future systems are transparent and accountable. Her work emphasizes the necessity of understanding the full risks associated with deploying AI systems and explores new methods for investigating bias and harm in existing models.

Research Interests

Experience

Assistant Professor

— Present

Penn State College of IST • University Park, PA

Faculty co-hire in the Institute for Computational Data Sciences.

Requirements for Pennsylvania State University

Doctorate Program
Requirements
GPA Requirement
Required:3
TOEFL
Writing
Required:24
Speaking
Required:23
Total
Required:100
IELTS
Writing
Required:7
Speaking
Required:7
Overall
Required:7
GRE General
Prerequisites
Master's degree in related field for PhD Baccalaureate degree from accredited institution
Application Checklist
  • Three letters of recommendation
  • Statement of Purpose
  • Writing Sample
  • Official Transcripts
  • Resume/CV
Specialization Notes

GRE scores are highly recommended but not strictly required for Applied Linguistics.