Allison Koenecke
{{Short description|American computer scientist and academic}}
{{Infobox scientist
| name = Allison Koenecke
| image = Allison Koenecke in Berkeley, December 2022 (cropped).jpg
| workplaces = {{ubl|Microsoft Research | Cornell University}}
| alma_mater = {{ubl|Massachusetts Institute of Technology | Stanford University}}
| doctoral_advisor = Susan Athey
| thesis_title = Fairness in algorithmic services
| thesis_url = https://worldcat.org/en/title/1254088258
| thesis_year = 2021
}}
Allison Koenecke is an American computer scientist and an assistant professor in the Department of Information Science at Cornell University.Koenecke's [https://koenecke.infosci.cornell.edu/ homepage] Her research considers computational social science and algorithmic fairness. In 2022, Koenecke was named one of the Forbes 30 Under 30 in Science.
Early life and education
As a high school student, Koenecke took part in a mathematics competition at Massachusetts Institute of Technology.{{Cite web |title=Math enthusiasts take aim at STEM glass ceiling |url=https://news.mit.edu/2022/math-enthusiasts-take-aim-stem-glass-ceiling-1024 |access-date=2022-11-30 |website=MIT News {{!}} Massachusetts Institute of Technology |language=en}} She was in the first cohort of participants for the Math Prize for Girls, and has continued to support the program as her career has progressed. Koenecke was an undergraduate student at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where she majored in mathematics with a minor in economics.{{Cite web |title=Allison Koenecke |url=https://www.widsconference.org/allison_koenecke.html |access-date=2022-11-30 |website=Women in Data Science (WiDS) |language=en}} She worked in economic consultancy for several years before realizing she wanted to do something that benefitted society.
Koenecke was a doctoral researcher in the Institute for Computational and Mathematical Engineering at Stanford University. Koenecke was advised by notable economist Susan Athey and her doctoral research focused on fairness in algorithmic systems.{{cite web |title=Former Students |url=https://gsb-faculty.stanford.edu/susan-athey/former-students/ |website=Susan Athey}}{{Cite web |date=2020-12-16 |title=Susan Athey awarded CME Group-MSRI Prize for innovative work in tech economics |url=https://stanforddaily.com/2020/12/15/susan-athey-awarded-cme-group-msri-prize-for-innovative-work-in-tech-economics/ |access-date=2022-11-30 |website=The Stanford Daily |language=en-US}}{{cite news |title=Some essential reading and research on race and technology |url=https://venturebeat.com/business/some-essential-reading-and-research-on-race-and-technology/ |work=VentureBeat |date=2 June 2020}}{{cite magazine |last1=Thompson |first1=Clive |title=Sorry, but 'I Missed the Meeting' Is No Longer an Excuse |url=https://www.wired.com/story/ai-means-missing-the-meeting-is-no-longer-an-excuse/ |magazine=Wired}}{{cite news |last1=Sherfinski |first1=David |last2=Asher-Schapiro |first2=Avi |date=10 August 2021 |title=US prisons explore use of AI to analyze inmate phone calls |url=https://news.trust.org/item/20210809090018-c8r11/ |work=news.trust.org |agency=Reuters}} Prior to Cornell, Koenecke was a postdoctoral researcher at Microsoft Research, New England, where she focused on machine learning and statistics. Her current research interest also includes causal inference in public health.
Research and career
Koenecke moved to Cornell University as an assistant professor in 2022.{{Cite web |title=Cornell Bowers CIS welcomes 13 faculty members |url=https://news.cornell.edu/stories/2021/09/cornell-bowers-cis-welcomes-13-faculty-members |access-date=2022-11-30 |website=Cornell Chronicle |language=en}} She studies algorithmic fairness,{{cite news |last1=Metz |first1=Cade |title=Meet GPT-3. It Has Learned to Code (and Blog and Argue). |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/24/science/artificial-intelligence-ai-gpt3.html |work=The New York Times |date=24 November 2020}} including racial disparities in voice recognition systems. She noticed that voice recognition was being increasingly used in society, and was aware of the work of Joy Buolamwini and Timnit Gebru on facial recognition.{{Cite journal |last=Ravindran |first=Sandeep |date=September 2020 |title=QnAs with Sharad Goel and Allison Koenecke |journal=Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences |language=en |volume=117 |issue=35 |pages=20986–20987 |doi=10.1073/pnas.2015356117 |issn=0027-8424 |pmc=7474661 |pmid=32778579 |doi-access=free }} Koenecke started to perform tests on the voice recognition software developed by Amazon, IBM, Google, Microsoft and Apple.{{Cite web |last=University |first=Stanford |date=2020-03-23 |title=Automated speech recognition less accurate for blacks |url=https://news.stanford.edu/2020/03/23/automated-speech-recognition-less-accurate-blacks/ |access-date=2022-11-30 |website=Stanford News |language=en}} She showed these voice recognition systems had considerable racial disparities, and were more likely to misinterpret Black speakers.{{Cite web |last=Lloreda |first=Claudia Lopez |title=Speech Recognition Tech Is Yet Another Example of Bias |url=https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/speech-recognition-tech-is-yet-another-example-of-bias/ |access-date=2022-11-30 |website=Scientific American |language=en}}{{cite news |last1=Metz |first1=Cade |title=There Is a Racial Divide in Speech-Recognition Systems, Researchers Say |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/23/technology/speech-recognition-bias-apple-amazon-google.html |work=The New York Times |date=23 March 2020}} Whilst she could not precisely define the reasons for these racial disparities, she proposed that it was due to acoustic differences (differences in the patterns of stress/intonation) between white and African American vernacular. She argued that this kind of study was critical to improving such systems, emphasizing that equity must be part of the design of future technologies.{{cite web |title=Voicing Erasure |url=https://www.onassis.org/whats-on/festival-you-and-ai-through-the-algorithmic-lens/artworks/voicing-erasure |website=www.onassis.org |access-date=17 December 2022}}
Koenecke was named one of the Forbes 30 Under 30 in Science in 2022.{{Cite web |date=2022-11-30 |title=Science – Inventing the future from the atom up |website=Forbes |url=https://www.forbes.com/30-under-30/2023/science?profile=thiago-arzua}}
Awards and honors
- 2020 Ben Rolfs Memorial Award{{Cite web |title=ICME Awards {{!}} Stanford Institute for Computational & Mathematical Engineering |url=https://icme.stanford.edu/icme-culture/icme-awards |access-date=2022-11-30 |website=icme.stanford.edu |language=en}}
- 2020 Berkeley EECS Rising Stars{{Cite web |title=Rising Star 2020 Allison Koenecke {{!}} EECS at UC Berkeley |url=https://www2.eecs.berkeley.edu/risingstars/2020/participants/koenecke.shtml |access-date=2022-11-30 |website=www2.eecs.berkeley.edu}}
- 2021 Stanford School of Engineering Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (JEDI) Appreciation
- 2022 Forbes 30 Under 30
Selected publications
- {{Cite Q|Q89589357}}
- {{Cite Q|Q94466649}}
- {{Cite Q|Q111857738|doi-access=free}}
References
{{reflist}}
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Category:Year of birth missing (living people)
Category:American computer scientists
Category:Massachusetts Institute of Technology alumni
Category:Stanford University alumni