News

[July 2023] Change is afoot! Andrea Tapia has been named as interim Dean of the College. And in turn, I’ve been named interim Associate Dean of Research. I’m looking forward to working with our faculty, staff, and students on promoting innovation.

[May 2023] Attending the spring Board of Trustees meeting at Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI)

[April 2023] Attending the spring Advisory Board meeting of the UNU Macau, together with the newly installed Rector, U.N. Under Secretary Dr. Tshilidzi Marwala. We also attended the UN World Data Forum satellite event hosted in Macau (https://unwdf-macau.org/en/).

[November 2022] Excited to join the Editorial Board of the Journal on Computing and Sustainable Societies (https://dl.acm.org/journal/acmjcss/editorial-board)

[June 2022] Excited to be presenting our research at the ICTD2022 conference.

[April 2022] The third phase of my Fulbright is underway, returning to Universidad Tecnologica de Panama. I’m giving a talk to software engineering students as part of their 40th-anniversary celebrations for the Facultad de Ingeniería de Sistemas Computacionales (FISC).

[February 2022] Excited to learn I’m being awarded Penn State’s Faculty Scholar Medal for Entrepreneurship, Technology Transfer, and Economic Development for scholarly excellence. I’m grateful to my colleagues in the College of IST for their nomination and support!

See our ICTs & Refugees and Rwanda IoT pages for the latest research updates.

Overview

The fast pace of innovation in information and communication technologies (ICTs) continually creates new opportunities and challenges for economic and social development. These opportunities include new digital services (e.g., digital cash, digital identity documents) by humanitarian organizations as well as opportunities for individuals to improve their lives, both in the U.S. and around the world.

At the Great Wall of China following the 2006 ITS conference

Here at Penn State, my research, teaching, and service shed light on the ways international policy and organizational contexts influence access to, and use of, information and communication technologies. My work has been conducted in the U.S., Europe, Africa, and the Middle East. Also, I’ve had the honor of working with organizations such as the United Nations, international non-governmental organizations (e.g. Save the Children, CARE, and IRD), and U.S. federal agencies (e.g. Department of State, National Science Foundation).

Contact me at cfm12@psu.edu or visit at 390E Westgate Bldg. University Park, PA 16802