Cornell University scholar receives Societal Impact Award

Nicola Dell, associate professor at the Jacobs Technion-Cornell Institute at Cornell Tech and in the Cornell Ann S. Bowers College of Computing and Information Science, has received the 2023 Association for Computing Machinery Special Interest Group on Computer–Human Interaction (SIGCHI) Societal Impact Award.

One of three awardees, Dell was recognized for leveraging research in human-computer interaction (HCI) for the greater good: her work improves computer security and privacy for victims of intimate partner violence, strengthens digital privacy in non-Western contexts, and guides the development of technology that supports home health care workers.

Together with colleague Thomas Ristenpart, professor of computer science at Cornell Tech and Cornell Bowers CIS, Dell founded the Clinic to End Tech Abuse (CETA), which provides free tech support for survivors of intimate partner violence. CETA is embedded within the Family Justice Center social support system run by the New York City Mayor’s Office to End Domestic and Gender-Based Violence.

“I’m truly honored to receive the SIGCHI Societal Impact Award and am grateful for the amazing collaborators, students, postdocs, and research partners who make my work possible,” Dell said. “This award is a wonderful recognition of our research team’s hard work and accomplishments over the last few years.”