Leysia Palen facts for kids
Leysia Palen is an American computer scientist. She is known for her work in two main areas: human–computer interaction and disaster informatics. Human-computer interaction is about how people and computers work together. Disaster informatics is about using computers and information to help during emergencies.
Leysia Palen is a professor at the University of Colorado Boulder. There, she leads a research project that helps people get important information during a crisis. She also helps lead a center focused on software and society.
What Leysia Palen Does
Leysia Palen's research looks for ways to share information about dangers and risks with the public. She helps turn this information into advice for people during disasters. This advice helps them know how to react and stay safe.
She has also studied how people use social media when disasters happen. She found that people first started using platforms like these during the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami. Since then, using social media during emergencies has become much more common.
Leysia Palen gives tips for using social media in emergencies:
- Be very clear about where you are and what is happening.
- It's okay to show your feelings; don't try to act like nothing is wrong.
- If you are safe, help gather and check information for others.
Her Journey and Career
Leysia Palen studied computer science and psychology. She went to the University of California, San Diego and earned a bachelor's degree in 1991. Later, she went to the University of California, Irvine. She earned her master's degree in 1995 and her Ph.D. in 1998.
Before and during her graduate studies, she worked at companies like Boeing, Microsoft, and Xerox PARC.
In 1998, Leysia Palen joined the University of Colorado Boulder. She became a full professor in 2015. In the same year, she also helped start the Department of Information Science there.
Awards and Recognition
In 2015, Leysia Palen received the SIGCHI Social Impact Award. This award recognizes people who use computer science to make a positive difference in society.
In 2016, she was chosen to be part of the CHI Academy. This is a special group of top researchers in human-computer interaction.
