About

I’m an Assistant Professor of Philosophy and Computer Science in the Department of Philosophy and in the Khoury College of Computer Sciences at Northeastern University, where I am a core member of the Institute for Experiential AI and the NULab for Texts, Maps, and Networks. I co-founded the Intelligence, Data, Ethics and Society (IDEAS) summer institute for undergraduate students to both broaden participation in and advance a cross-disciplinary approach towards the field of responsible AI.

In addition to my position at Northeastern, I’m currently a visiting AI fellow at the National Institute of Standards and Technology. I’m part of the inaugural cohort of Schmidt Futures AI2050 Early Career Fellows, and the 2020-21 Council Fellow on the World Economic Forum’s Global Future Council on Data Policy.

A short bio: HTML

My current research: HTML

My CV: PDF

News

Upcoming Talks

  • 01/28: Stanford (PAIS)
  • 01/28: UofT
  • 02/27: Northeastern
  • 03/31: Georgetown
  • 04/14: William & Mary
  • 04/17: The Partnership on Employment & Accessible Technology
  • 05/04: Cornell Tech
  • 05/25: NIST (ITL)
  • 05/28: Statistical Society of Canada

Research

My research spans the fields of philosophy and ethics of AI, cognitive science, social philosophy, and philosophy of science. My work in these areas is problem-oriented in focus and pluralist in methodology, drawing on tools of philosophy, methods of cognitive science, and formal simulation and machine learning techniques. My current research centers on questions of values in complex sociotechnical systems that underpin institutional decision-making, and focuses on three broad themes:

  1. Philosophy & ethics of AI-informed decision-making
  2. Diversity & group decision-making
  3. Cognitive science of value-driven cognition

For a full list of my publications, please see my Google scholar page.

Intelligence, Data, Ethics, And Society (IDEAS) Lab

The IDEAS lab explores questions like: how can institutions and organizations make good decisions? What do those decision processes look like, particularly in our diverse, inter-connected, and increasingly algorithmic societies? And how do we ensure that these processes are designed and evaluated in ways that effectively promote our varied epistemic and ethical values? Answering these general questions requires that we carefully examine a number of more specific issues. Here are some of the issues that we are currently focusing on in the IDEAS lab.

Values & AI-informed decision-making

Sample publications

  • Ethical analysis of AI-informed decisions
  • Diversity in AI design and development
  • Human-AI complementarity & teaming
Values & decision-making in diverse societies

Sample publications

  • Conceptualizing & quantifying sociocultural diversity
  • Diversity’s influence on group dynamics & performance
  • Fairness implications of communication structure & dynamics
Values & individual cognition

Sample publications

  • The impacts of goals and values on human cognition (especially on attention, counterfactual judgments, and causal cognition)

Note: If you are interested in joining the lab, please contact me with your resume, and please make sure to indicate the specific areas of our research that best align with your interests and background.

Teaching

Northeastern University

Undergraduate courses

  • F22-23 PHIL1145: Technology & Human Values
  • F22-23 PHIL4535: Philosophy of Mind
  • S21-22 PHIL1145: Technology & Human Values (Sec 3 & 6)
Carnegie Mellon University

Graduate seminars

  • S20-21 94-836: Ethics & Policy of Data Analytics. Heinz College.
University of British Columbia

Undergraduate courses

  • S18-19 COGS300: Understanding and Designing Cognitive Systems. Cognitive Systems Program.
  • S17-18 COGS300: Understanding and Designing Cognitive Systems. Cognitive Systems Program.
  • F16-17 PHIL125: Introduction to Scientific Reasoning. Philosophy Department.
Short courses
  • S17-18 Causal Graphical Models: Representation and Inference. University of British Columbia.

Awards

  • Don Brown Graduate Teaching Award, University of British Columbia, 2018.

Teaching Training

  • Certificate Program in Advanced Teaching and Learning at University of British Columbia
  • Instructional Skills Workshop, UBC Graduate Pathways to Success.

Contact

Mailing Address

Sina Fazelpour
Department of Philosophy and Religion, Northeastern University,
360 Huntington Ave,
Boston, MA, 02115
United States

Office

Room 420S, Renaissance Park
Northeastern University
1135 Columbus Ave,
Boston, MA 02120

Email

s.fazel-pour [at] northeastern.edu