Undergraduate Thesis
- 2 minsMy undergraduate thesis is comprised of two components, a technical portion and an STS (Science, Technology and Society) portion that analyzes the effect of technology on Society. My technical thesis was in fulfillment of my B.S. in Computer Science. The technical thesis was a result of my 4th year capstone project at the University of Virginia where I participated in the Service Learning Practicum. My STS thesis is in fulfillment of the STS requirement for the School of Engineering and Applied Science.
My full undergraduate thesis can be found here.
My technical undergraduate thesis can be found here.
My STS undergraduate thesis can be found here.
The paper is published and available through the University of Virginia Library here.
The abstract of my undergraduate thesis:
Automated software systems operate with minimal or no human intervention. The rise of automated systems raises questions about their value and has major social implications. The effects maybe detrimental, and a thorough analysis of the implications must be determined before these systems become mainstream.
Madison House’s HELP Line is an anonymous telephone hotline service intended to serve the University of Virginia community. HELP line aims to provide the community a confidential and non-judgmental listener to discuss any issues a caller may be dealing with. HELP line is staffed by over 100 volunteers, and to increase HELP line effectiveness the capstone team created a call log management system that stores crucial information about callers. Although the old system provided a means to store information; it was slow, unstable and poorly implemented. The new system tracks the development of a caller to provide volunteers accurate information to be the most informed listener. The call log provides reporting on caller statistics, a cleaner user workflow, and better searching capabilities for volunteers and administrators to streamline the overall HELP line program.
Automated automobiles, known as Autonomous Vehicles or AVs, are in development. AVs will appear on public roads by the 2020’s. AV advocates and critics clash as they fail to recognize the two-fold situation regarding reduction of risk and cost as participant groups have different interests and values. Before AVs become common, however, they must overcome legal and ethical obstacles by answering what kind role artificial intelligence should have in AVs. Advocates credit AVs to provide savings in safety, greenhouse gases, productivity among others but these benefits are overstated as they neglect to recognize potential for new risks or cost. Labor markets may see large disruptions as groups such as the New York Taxi Workers Alliance fight early automated systems like Uber and Lyft with AVs on the horizon. AVs resemble past technological innovations where automation threatens entire jobs sectors, and reshapes many jobs. AVs rattle the traditional insurance industry raising questions of who should bear responsibility for errors caused by AVs. These liability concerns quickly become an issue of what ethical model cars should bear. What is the future of AVs? Many of the issues are ethical, and not particular to AVs but to all artificial intelligent systems. Policy regarding a universal standard of norms for the public will have to be established before AVs become mainstream.