Diversity in Computing: Matt Mitchell on Algorithmic Bias

The Barnard CSC is excited about our next Diversity in Computing Speaker, Matt Mitchell, Founder of CryptoHarlem and Technology Fellow at the Ford Foundation.

Missed this talk? Watch it here on our YouTube Channel!

SOLVED: Easy Fixes for Algorithmic Bias

One of the most impactful and concrete solutions to algorithmic bias is having a diverse team of researchers, analysts, critics, to conduct the work. This is something that is quickly glanced over but in this conversation we will focus on this inconvenient truth.

Matt Mitchell is a hacker, founder CryptoHarlem, and tech fellow to the BUILD program at the Ford Foundation. In his work there, Matt develops cybersecurity strategy for the foundation's grantee partners. In 2021, Matt graced the cover of Newsweek magazine and was named one of America's Greatest Disruptors. That year he was awarded a Pioneer Award by the Electronic Frontier Foundation, in 2020 named a WIRED25 by Wired magazine, and in 2017 named a Human of The Year by Vice Motherboard.

Mitchell is also a well known security researcher, operational security trainer, and data journalist. His organization CryptoHarlem (https://cryptoharlem.com), hosts impromptu workshops teaching basic cryptography tools to the predominately African American community in upper Manhattan. Matt worked as an independent digital security/counter surveillance trainer for media and humanitarian focused private security firms. His personal work focuses on marginalized, aggressively monitored, over-policed populations in the United States. Matt sits on the Network Investment Council of Reset Tech (https://www.reset.tech/people/#network-investment-council), and the board of Action Squared Inc. (https://actionnetwork.org/about).

Photo credit: Event cover by Naomi Wax / Ford Foundation

As part of the Year of Science @ Barnard College, the Vagelos Computational Science Center (CSC) is excited to announce our first Diversity in Computing Speaker Series. This series will run for the 2021–2022 academic year and will feature talks from scholars and practitioners in computational fields who explore what DEI (diversity, equity, and inclusion) looks like in STEM.

There is an urgent need to more fully consider the ethical and social implications of computing and its applications: for example, in designing addictive social media platforms or in using AI for facial or name recognition, which can lead to housing discrimination, racial biases in job hiring, or restrictions on personal freedoms through public and private surveillance.

To better understand how to counter these biases, this series rethinks STEM disciplines from the inside out. We invite one leader in a STEM field every month to speak about the work they are doing to diversify and broaden inclusion in their fields by either sharing their research, their experiences and initiatives in industry or academia, or their thoughts on how power structures within computing disciplines should be transformed to create more equitable systems.

For more information about the Barnard CSC, go to https://www.csc.barnard.edu or follow us on Instagram and Twitter (@barnard_csc), and Facebook.

This talk will take place online. A Zoom link will be sent to registrants shortly before the event.