PIT-UN Landscape Scan Grant Win
Boston University is a proud member of the Public Interest Technology University Network (PIT-UN), an initiative of the New America Foundation. We are happy to share that Katharine Lusk, Co-Director of the Boston University Initiative on Cities, and Azer Bestavros, Associate Provost for the Faculty of Computing & Data Sciences (CDS), were recently awarded a grant from the New Venture Fund to delve into the current state of the field of public interest technology.
The research team will conduct a comprehensive scan of public interest technology (PIT) activities taking place at the 43 PIT-UN member institutions, including 36 existing and seven new members. There are three main goals:
- Provide a rigorous and comprehensive baseline of student-oriented, faculty-oriented and institutional activities, including related courses and degrees, and practices being undertaken to advance the field of PIT
- Evaluate the degree to which “public interest technology” is entering the academic lexicon
- Understand the trajectory of member institutions from ‘nascent’ to ‘mature’, and associated activities and practices, in order to provide a roadmap for new members
This funding furthers the momentum of Data Science for Good, a CDS initiative which leverages the expertise in BU's 17 schools and colleges to accelerate the public interest technology work of faculty and students.
The IOC is currently hiring graduate and undergraduate research assistants to support this project this summer. You can learn more about these opportunities here.