CMU SCS Names Lynnette Ng Winner of 2026 Distinguished Dissertation Award After Heart Transplant
windx0303 · x · 2026-10-27
Lynnette Hui Xian Ng won Carnegie Mellon University's School of Computer Science 2025-2026 Distinguished Dissertation Award for The Foundations of Cyber Social Agents (advisor: Kathleen Carley). In her acceptance post, she recounts a PhD journey marked by paper rejections, failed experiments, and a life-threatening illness that required a heart transplant — yet she still wrote a thesis, published a book (Bots, Bias and Influence), signed another book contract, and won multiple best paper awards. Honorable Mention went to Wesley Hanwen Deng (HCII) for work on supporting safe and responsible AI in industry practice.
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