Academics

Rosson named Association for Computing Machinery fellow

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Mary Beth Rosson, professor of information sciences and technology, has been named a 2020 Fellow of the Association for Computing Machinery for her contributions to human-computer interaction, including scenario-based design.

Mary Beth Rosson, professor of information sciences and technology at Penn State. Credit: Penn StateCreative Commons

ACM, the world’s largest educational and scientific computing society, recognizes as fellows the top 1% of its members, for their achievements related to information technology and outstanding service to ACM or the larger computing community. This year, there were a record number of nominations from around the world.

“The ACM is the world’s most well-known society in computing, and its fellows program celebrates the field’s top leaders,” said Rosson. “To be recognized as one of these leaders — after being nominated, endorsed and ultimately selected by my peers — is a huge honor.”

She added, “As part of the selection process, the fellows selection committee reviewed and debated my research and service contributions.  It’s not about a single event or accomplishment, but a lifetime of work that my peers have seen as valuable.”

A Penn State faculty member since 2003, Rosson serves as director of graduate programs and is professor-in-charge of the Human-Computer Interaction faculty area at the College of Information Sciences and Technology. Rosson’s research themes include scenario-based design and evaluation methods, materials and tools for informal and collaborative learning, and interactive tools for software design and construction.

She co-directs the Collaboration and Innovation lab, part of Penn State’s Center for Human-Computer Interaction. Within the lab, she co-directs the user experience facet of Visual Cortex on Silicon, an NSF-funded Expeditions project exploring new directions in smart cameras. The team has been working with brain scientists and computer vision researchers on novel technologies and applications for computer vision, with a current focus on shopping assistance for people with visual impairments.

“The fellows program covers the entire discipline of computing, so being honored like this reinforces my position in the field at large,” said Rosson. “This makes me even more committed to collaborations with other computing researchers outside my specific interests.”

In addition to being named an ACM fellow, Rosson is also an ACM Distinguished Scientist and is a member of the SIGCHI Academy. She is a founding member of the End Users Shaping Effective Software Consortium, a multi-institution group of researchers who collaborate on a broad range of issues and techniques related to end-user software engineering.

She joins two other ACM fellows at the College of IST: C. Lee Giles, the David Reese Professor of Information Sciences and Technology; and Jack Carroll, distinguished professor of information sciences and technology.

Rosson received her bachelor’s degree in psychology from Trinity University and her doctorate in human experimental psychology from the University of Texas, Austin. Prior to joining Penn State, she was a professor of computer science at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, and a research staff member at IBM T.J. Watson Research Center.

Last Updated June 28, 2021