Growing up in an eventful corner of the world like Iran, Hoda Heidari developed a keen interest in history, politics and economics as a teenager. But she also excelled at math and computing, even earning a medal in the Iranian National Mathematics Olympiad as a senior in high school — a feat not common for a woman. It wasn't until she earned a bachelor's degree in computer engineering and began exploring graduate programs that she realized she could combine her passion for computing and social sciences into one career.

And like that, her interest in responsible artificial intelligence was born.

"I believe that our collective values are the bond that holds us together. We must be careful that the technologies we build reflect these values or we risk the technology tearing us apart," said Heidari, an assistant professor in the Machine Learning Department with a joint appointment in the Institute for Software Research's Societal Computing program. "For better or worse, technologists are in a position to impact people's lives and social dynamics. We need to recognize our power and wield it responsibly."

Read about how Heidari uses her research to tackle today's challenges in this profile story in the latest issue of the School of Computer Science's magazine, The LINK.