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Apply Today: Researching Socially-Responsible AI With Students From HUGs

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Click the links that follow for more news about diversity, equity, and inclusion at Brown CS, our Socially Responsible Computing program, Randall Balestriero, Daniel Ritchie, Ritambhara Singh, Srinath Sridhar, James Tompkin, or Suresh Venkatasubramanian.

Artificial intelligence is often in the news for the wrong reasons: privacy-penetrating surveillance systems, "deepfakes", racial bias in predictive policing, contributing to climate change, and more. But when used in a socially responsible manner, AI can serve the public good: robotic assistants for people with physical disabilities; tools to help people express their creative visions; systems that help people improve their physical and mental wellbeing; and more. Brown CS is partnering with Google Research to offer exploreCSR: Socially-Responsible Artificial Intelligence, a semester-long immersive research experience program for undergraduate students which focuses on exactly these subjects.

Thanks to an exploreCSR award from Google, faculty members Randall Balestriero, Daniel Ritchie, Ritambhara Singh, Srinath Sridhar, James Tompkin, and Suresh Venkatasubramanian will be showing students what computing research can look like, helping them build self-efficacy and practical research skills, and encouraging them to pursue graduate studies in computer science. Daniel and his colleagues are especially interested in applicants from colleges and universities that do not already offer extensive research opportunities, and they encourage students from historically-underrepresented groups within computer science to apply. This includes, but is not limited to, students that identify as women, underrepresented minority (URM), first-generation college, low-income, and/or LGBTQ+. No prior research experience is required.

To apply, fill out the online application form by December 8, 2025.

"Brown CS is uniquely qualified to offer this kind of experience," says Daniel, "not only due to our diversity and inclusion programs and our efforts to integrate socially responsible computing across our entire curriculum, but also because we have such a strong undergraduate research culture. The faculty mentors participating in this program already have Brown undergraduates contributing to cutting-edge research, so it’s not a huge leap to welcome students from other institutions into our labs.”

Thanks to the department's strong AI and visual computing groups, research topics are many and varied, including creative deepfake detection, image editing. 3D modeling, analyzing electronic health records, and more. Opportunities for projects include literature reviews, replication studies, research apprenticeships, and independent research projects. The program will culminate in an in-person visit to campus, centered around a symposium in which students present their findings alongside Brown undergrads. 

"We’re very proud of our 'virtual research associate' approach," says Daniel. "It's really different from the typical outreach approach of bringing students in for a short workshop that lasts maybe for a long weekend. Having a longer timeline, where students get to really experience a research culture over the span of a semester, can have a more lasting impact on attracting students to CS research careers. And we'll still bring students to campus at the end of this experience, for them to meet with their mentors and collaborators and present their research alongside Brown undergrads, as their research peers."

For more information, click the link that follows to contact Brown CS Communications Manager Jesse C. Polhemus.