{"689380":{"#nid":"689380","#data":{"type":"event","title":"PhD Proposal by Kayla Uleah Evans","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EIgnorance by Design: How Institutional Infrastructures Produce and Foreclose Decision Recognition in Interdisciplinary AI Research\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EKayla Uleah Evans\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EPh.D. Student in Human-Centered Computing\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ESchool of Interactive Computing\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EGeorgia Institute of Technology\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EDate: Monday, April 6, 2026\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ETime: 9:00-10:00 AM (public portion)\u0026nbsp;| 9:00 AM-12:00 PM (full)\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ELocations: \u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/gatech.zoom.us\/j\/93196219384?pwd=1CoV2ENEam6GE8z0H70bIPfkfvFzgi.1\u0022 title=\u0022https:\/\/gatech.zoom.us\/j\/93196219384?pwd=1CoV2ENEam6GE8z0H70bIPfkfvFzgi.1\u0022\u003EZoom\u003C\/a\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u0026amp; TSRB 217B\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EZoom instructions: \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/gatech.zoom.us\/j\/93196219384?pwd=1CoV2ENEam6GE8z0H70bIPfkfvFzgi.1\u0022\u003Ehttps:\/\/gatech.zoom.us\/j\/93196219384?pwd=1CoV2ENEam6GE8z0H70bIPfkfvFzgi.1\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ERoom instructions: exit elevator, turn left, look to your right, walk toward glass-walled room\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EAbstract:\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EAcademic AI research has not undergone the infrastructural redesign that other fields developed in response to crises of accountability (e.g., IRBs in medicine, environmental impact assessments in policy, disclosure requirements in finance). For AI research, the primary institutional response has been funding interdisciplinarity: assembling computer scientists with ethicists, social scientists, and domain experts. Yet no empirical measure exists to evaluate whether these collaborations produce genuine knowledge integration, and existing evidence suggests that many instead exhibit subordination-service dynamics, wherein non-technical expertise is consulted only after core decisions have already been made.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EThis dissertation poses a fundamental question: do researchers even recognize when a decision is being made?\u003C\/strong\u003E\u0026nbsp;Drawing on science and technology studies, infraethics, affordance theory, distributed cognition, and agnotology, I introduce \u003Cem\u003Edecision recognition\u003C\/em\u003E: an emergent property of collaboration wherein at least two courses of action become simultaneously \u003Cem\u003Evisible, viable, and voiceable\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/em\u003Ewithin a team. When institutional infrastructures \u2014 funding timelines, publication norms, disciplinary hierarchies \u2014 foreclose these conditions, the result is \u003Cem\u003Einstitutionalized ignorance\u003C\/em\u003E: patterned ignorance\u0026nbsp;produced through ordinary institutional operations rather than deliberate suppression.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EThe proposed work builds on five completed studies across multiple collaborations:\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/strong\u003Etheoretical work originating from a 2024 advisory collaboration with NIST\u0027s ARIA program; decision-tracing interviews with NLP researchers; an analysis of ambiguous costs across 15 LLM projects; situated ethnography of a complex data audit; and a 14-month research-through-design collaboration with Chayn, a global gender-based violence prevention tech nonprofit. Two additional studies extend this work: structured card-based co-design sessions with researcher dyads to surface perceptual asymmetries between collaborators, and the development of a standalone protocol enabling research teams to conduct infrastructural self-examination independently.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EThe dissertation offers three contributions:\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/strong\u003Ea conceptual vocabulary for analyzing pre-deliberative scoping in collaborative AI research; empirical evidence that infrastructure produces systematic perceptual asymmetries even among collaborators on identical projects; and a protocol operationalizing this framework for independent use within research teams. This work reframes responsible AI from evaluating decisions already rendered to designing conditions wherein decisions become recognizable.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ECommittee Members:\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EDr. \u003C\/strong\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/scholar.google.com\/citations?hl=en\u0026amp;user=BXEDBDUAAAAJ\u0026amp;view_op=list_works\u0026amp;sortby=pubdate\u0022 title=\u0022https:\/\/scholar.google.com\/citations?hl=en\u0026amp;user=BXEDBDUAAAAJ\u0026amp;view_op=list_works\u0026amp;sortby=pubdate\u0022\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EBetsy DiSalvo (Advisor)\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u0026nbsp;is a professor in Georgia Tech\u2019s School of Interactive Computing and director of the Culture and Technology Lab. Her work examines informal learning, computing education, and the social dimensions of technology.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EDr. \u003C\/strong\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/scholar.google.com\/citations?hl=en\u0026amp;user=q_K8iFQAAAAJ\u0026amp;view_op=list_works\u0026amp;sortby=pubdate\u0022 title=\u0022https:\/\/scholar.google.com\/citations?hl=en\u0026amp;user=q_K8iFQAAAAJ\u0026amp;view_op=list_works\u0026amp;sortby=pubdate\u0022\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EChristopher J. MacLellan\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u0026nbsp;is an associate professor in Georgia Tech\u2019s School of Interactive Computing. His research spans human-computer interaction, AI, and machine learning.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EDr. \u003C\/strong\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/scholar.google.com\/citations?hl=en\u0026amp;user=ktfwSGoAAAAJ\u0026amp;view_op=list_works\u0026amp;sortby=pubdate\u0022 title=\u0022https:\/\/scholar.google.com\/citations?hl=en\u0026amp;user=ktfwSGoAAAAJ\u0026amp;view_op=list_works\u0026amp;sortby=pubdate\u0022\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EAndr\u00e9 Brock\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u0026nbsp;is an associate professor in Georgia Tech\u2019s School of Literature, Media, and Communication. His scholarship focuses on race, digital media, Black culture online, and critical studies of technology.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EDr. \u003C\/strong\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/scholar.google.com\/citations?hl=en\u0026amp;user=DPjHVWwAAAAJ\u0026amp;view_op=list_works\u0026amp;sortby=pubdate\u0022 title=\u0022https:\/\/scholar.google.com\/citations?hl=en\u0026amp;user=DPjHVWwAAAAJ\u0026amp;view_op=list_works\u0026amp;sortby=pubdate\u0022\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EDing Wang\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u0026nbsp;is a senior researcher at Google Research and affiliated with Georgia Tech\u2019s School of Interactive Computing. Her work explores human-computer interaction, AI systems, and the labor and infrastructure behind data-driven technologies.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EDr. \u003C\/strong\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/scholar.google.com\/citations?hl=en\u0026amp;user=AjKdHVMAAAAJ\u0026amp;view_op=list_works\u0026amp;sortby=pubdate\u0022 title=\u0022https:\/\/scholar.google.com\/citations?hl=en\u0026amp;user=AjKdHVMAAAAJ\u0026amp;view_op=list_works\u0026amp;sortby=pubdate\u0022\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ECassidy Sugimoto\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u0026nbsp;is the Tom and Marie Patton Professor and School Chair in Georgia Tech\u2019s Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter School of Public Policy. Her research examines how knowledge is produced, shared, and evaluated, with particular attention to equity and the scientific workforce.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EDr. \u003C\/strong\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/professional.mit.edu\/programs\/faculty-profiles\/ben-waber\u0022 title=\u0022https:\/\/professional.mit.edu\/programs\/faculty-profiles\/ben-waber\u0022\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EBen Waber\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u0026nbsp;is President \u0026amp; Co-Founder of Humanyze and a researcher affiliated with MIT Media Lab and Ritsumeikan University. His work centers on organizational behavior, people analytics, and the dynamics of collaboration in workplaces.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/docs.google.com\/document\/d\/1aVm_WYrFBpDsgJ4XSqpo9e9dLY4i0Ehao6JXA1n_hzM\/edit?usp=sharing\u0022 title=\u0022https:\/\/docs.google.com\/document\/d\/1aVm_WYrFBpDsgJ4XSqpo9e9dLY4i0Ehao6JXA1n_hzM\/edit?usp=sharing\u0022\u003ELink to Proposal Document\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":"","format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EIgnorance by Design: How Institutional Infrastructures Produce and Foreclose Decision Recognition in Interdisciplinary AI Research\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Ignorance by Design: How Institutional Infrastructures Produce and Foreclose Decision Recognition in Interdisciplinary AI Research"}],"uid":"27707","created_gmt":"2026-04-02 13:27:13","changed_gmt":"2026-04-02 13:27:59","author":"Tatianna Richardson","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","field_event_time":{"event_time_start":"2026-04-06T09:00:00-04:00","event_time_end":"2026-04-06T10:00:00-04:00","event_time_end_last":"2026-04-06T10:00:00-04:00","gmt_time_start":"2026-04-06 13:00:00","gmt_time_end":"2026-04-06 14:00:00","gmt_time_end_last":"2026-04-06 14:00:00","rrule":null,"timezone":"America\/New_York"},"location":"Zoom \u0026 TSRB 217B","extras":[],"groups":[{"id":"221981","name":"Graduate Studies"}],"categories":[],"keywords":[{"id":"102851","name":"Phd proposal"}],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[{"id":"1788","name":"Other\/Miscellaneous"}],"invited_audience":[{"id":"78771","name":"Public"}],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[],"email":[],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}