K&L Gates Presidential Fellowship
The K&L Gates Presidential Fellowship supports doctoral students whose work elucidates ethical and societal issues that arise in the development or use of computational technologies. The term “computational technologies” should be understood broadly, encompassing computational models, tools, methods, or approaches to problems.
Computational technologies can be deployed within and across the many disciplines and areas of research at Carnegie Mellon. Similarly, successful fellows will demonstrate an explicit and substantive engagement with social and ethical issues that arise from the development, deployment, evaluation, or governance of computational technologies.
Such work might address issues of fairness and justice, impact on individual autonomy, stakeholder participation and community empowerment, accountability and governance, promoting benefits and mitigating risks, and other related concerns.
Computational Technologies and Ethical and Societal Focus
- Machine learning – Developing algorithms and models that enable computers to learn from data.
- Artificial intelligence – Creating systems that simulate human intelligence for decision-making and problem-solving.
- Statistics – Applying mathematical methods to collect, analyze, and interpret data.
- Engineering – Designing and building technologies to solve complex problems.
- Medical and life sciences – Leveraging computational tools to advance healthcare, biology, and related disciplines.
- Social sciences – Using computational approaches to explore human behavior, society, and related phenomena.
- Humanities – Applying computational methods to study culture, history, philosophy, and more.
- Finance, business, and operations -Applying computational methods to improve decision-making, model markets, manage risk, and optimize systems.
This work should also address a range of ethical and societal issues, such as:
- Fairness and justice – Ensuring that computational technologies are equitable and do not perpetuate biases.
- Impact on individual autonomy – Considering how technology affects personal freedoms and decision-making.
- Stakeholder participation – Involving affected parties in the development and deployment of technology.
- Community empowerment – Using technology to strengthen and uplift communities, ensuring broad access to its benefits.
- Accountability and governance – Establishing transparent and responsible oversight mechanisms for technological systems.
- Promoting benefits and mitigating risks – Ensuring technologies provide positive outcomes while managing potential harms.
- Other related concerns – Addressing any additional ethical considerations that arise in the development and use of computational technologies
As computational technologies shape many aspects of modern life—from healthcare and education to finance and governance—they raise critical ethical and societal questions around issues such as bias, privacy, accountability, and access. The K&L Gates Presidential Fellowship supports doctoral students whose research brings these challenges into focus, offering insights that can guide the responsible development and use of such technologies.
The K&L Gates Presidential Fellowship is funded by the $10 million gift that established the K&L Gates Endowment for Ethics and Computational Technologies. This fellowship will award up to $60,000 annually to three doctoral students whose research explores critical questions, such as how humans interact with technology, how we anticipate and address the unintended consequences of innovation, and how we ensure that technology serves the benefit of humanity both individually and collectively.
Nominating a Candidate for the Presidential Fellowship
Applications open each summer, with nominations accepted from all CMU colleges and schools. An interdisciplinary faculty committee reviews the submissions, and selected fellows are notified at the start of the new academic year.
Eligibility
Nomination Guidelines
Nominator's are required to upload the nomination package as one file when completing the nomination form. Each nomination packet should include:
- Nomination letter with the following sections (maximum 3 pages). Please use this Nomination Letter template.
- Research summary and Quality
- Ethical and Social Engagement
- Interdisciplinary Methods and Approaches
- Potential for Positive Impact
- Additional achievements
- Student’s CV
- Student’s research plan in which they address how their work satisfies the fellowship criteria (maximum 2 pages). Please use this guideline.
Meet the 2024-2025 Fellows
TZU-SHENG KUO
2024-2025 Fellow
Doctoral Student
Human-Computer Interaction Institute, School of Computer Science
Carnegie Mellon University
VERONICA MURIGA
2024-2025 Fellow
Doctoral Student
Electrical and Computer Engineering, College of Engineering
Carnegie Mellon University
WESLEY DENG
2024-2025 Fellow
Doctoral Student
Human-Computer Interaction Institute, School of Computer Science
Carnegie Mellon University