Sina Fazelpour

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. In 2022, I co-founded the Intelligence, Data, Ethics and Society (IDEAS) summer institute for undergraduate students, and organize IDEAS Boston.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Email

s.fazel-pour [at] northeastern.edu