Technology Workforce Research Area

Dr Diane Murphy is a Distinguished Professor known for her research as well as her teaching and community service. She is currently the Principal Investigator (PI) on several research grants in the cybersecurity field including following from the National Science Foundation (NSF): the CyberCorps Scholarship for Service grant and the CyberTeach grant. Much of her research is in workforce development, including educational pathways in both cybersecurity and, more recently, in artificial intelligence. She is particularly interested in researching barriers to diversity (gender and ethnicity). Her interests also include trustworthy AI and the detection/ minimization of bias in AI.

Dr. Donna Schaeffer’s research agenda focuses on three topics: the ethical and social implications of artificial intelligence and machine learning; incorporating cybersecurity principles and education into disciplines across the curriculum, e.g., mathematics, public health, tourism, and public affairs; and cybersecurity management and policy on the organizational, national, and international levels. Dr. Schaeffer has overseen numerous dissertations and published taxonomies for telecommunications technologies and ethical codes for citizen science and crowd-sourced engineering projects.

Dr. Michelle Liu’s research mainly concerns dynamic and complex relations between emerging technologies and human decision-making. Her scholarly work focuses on three areas: (1) how emerging technologies (e.g., telehealth) would interact with, or co-evolve with users, organization security posture, and privacy decision making; (2) how to address questions about the impact, governance, ethics, and accountability of AI-based systems; and (3) how to innovate STEM education to increase workforce diversity and readiness. She has been actively involved in student/faculty collaborative research activities which culminate in conference presentations and peer-reviewed journal publications.

Dr. Susan Conrad’s key research area is data privacy and protecting personal identifiable information. With Internet of Things (IOT) and surveillance devices tracking our every movement, developing strategies to protect data is not simply about keeping data safe but a human rights issue impacting personal freedom. Questions about data consent, usage and ownership will dictate how personal data can be used and collected. Dr. Conrad is interested in researching how data privacy safeguards can be integrated into new products for the safeguarding of personal data. In addition to privacy, Dr. Conrad researches topics about workforce readiness and trends in the technology marketplace.