Palen elected to CHI Academy for lifetime contributions to field
, Chair of the Department of Information Science, has been for having made significant, cumulative contributions to the development of the field of human–computer interaction. She is one of eight scholars selected in 2016 for this honor from SIGCHI.
SIGCHI (Special Interest Group for Computer-Human Interaction) is a chapter of the Association for Computing Machinery–an international society for professionals and researchers interested in human-computer interaction. Last year, Palen received the 2015 Social Impact Award from SIGCHI.
studies how people communicate during disasters, with special emphasis on their use of social media.
Palen's colleagues celebrated her selection for the CHI academy by secretly filling her office with balloons.