Fox Harrell, Assistant Professor, School of Literature, Communication, and Culture has received a National Science Foundation CAREER Award for his project "Computing for Advanced Identity Representation (AIR)." The Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Program is the National Science Foundation's most prestigious award in support of junior faculty. Harrell's award is accompanied by a five year $535,000 grant.

Harrell directs the Imagination, Computation, and Expression Lab (ICE Lab). His AIR Project represents a new transdisciplinary approach to designing computational identity technologies. Computer users already have the ability to represent themselves in digital media (e.g., virtual characters, avatars, and social networking profiles). The AIR Project will result in new technology and theory to allow users to create highly imaginative self representations and to reveal how stereotypes, prejudice, bias, and other ills are built into current technologies.

Harrell is developing an identity modeling "toolkit" for constructing identities across interactive narratives/games and social networking applications. Grounded in computing, cognitive science, and digital media arts, the technology will enable representations that more fully mirror how humans express our identities in nuanced ways such as adapting to social context, changing over time, varying body language, discourse, and more. They also model how we classify ourselves and each other, and how our identities relate to our social groups. As an example application, the technology will enable more dynamic player characters in games and allow computer characters to respond more creatively to players' identities.

The AIR Toolkit will also allow Harrell to conduct empirical evaluation of his new user representations and compare them to those available in current systems with a goal of better understand how users adapt their self-presentations in response to expected behaviors and appearances, as well as to social categories and stigmas.

Harrell noted, "The AIR Project represents developing technology with a humanistic ethos that extends through education in the classroom, curriculum, mentoring, and outreach. Most importantly, the AIR Project serves society-at-large by developing technology to enable real-world empowerment, critical awareness, and diversity."