Category: Awards and Acknowledgements

Dr. Kinnis Gosha, Hortenius I. Chenault Endowed Associate Professor and Director of the Culturally Relevant Computing Lab ( CRCL), has joined Dell, Inc. as a Diversity and Inclusion Summer Research Fellow to lead a study to uncover how companies can successful with hiring and retaining diverse candidates. This research will help to inform the direction of strategic investments made by companies to empower and enable the workforce of the future.

Through his expertise in designing conversational agents, Dr. Gosha will lead the development of Dell’s Bias Check Embodied Conversational Agent prototype. In doing so, Dr. Gosha will work closely with Dell’s Director of Global Diversity and Inclusion, Nitcelle Emmanuels , and the CRCL’s very own  post-baccalaureate researcher and recent Morehouse graduate, Tristian Pittman, to complete this project.

Dr. Kinnis Gosha has recently been named the Division Chair of Experiential Learning and Interdisciplinary Studies, a new division at Morehouse College. With this new position, Dr. Gosha will have the opportunity to work closely with Academic Program Directors (APDs) to facilitate programmatic, budgetary, and other decision-making within the division. He will also be responsible for participating in student recruitment activities and fundraising for the division. In addition, he will be expected to promote a collegial work climate, facilitate and lead the division towards improved productivity and relevancy.

Dr. Kinnis Gosha, an Assistant Professor and Director of the Culturally Relevant Computing Lab at Morehouse College, has been awarded a grant by the National Science Foundation (NSF) to conduct a study on virtual mentorship and how it impacts underrepresented minority students in the computer science and engineering fields. This grant award is for $299,882 and will span a two-year period.  The central purpose of this research is to develop and evaluate a virtual mentoring system that uses a group of embodied conversational agents (i.e., think avatars) to mentor underrepresented doctoral students, majoring in engineering and computer science and who are pursuing a career as a college professor.  This NSF award positions the Culturally Relevant Computing Lab to conduct research that can potentially transform the landscape of engineering and computer science, by providing the foundation and support needed to foster diversity through virtual mentorship.

Dr. Kinnis Gosha was recently selected as the recipient of the Hortenius I. Chenault Endowed Professorship. He will hold the term appointed Chenault Endowed  Professor in Mathematics and Sciences. The purpose of this professorship is to provide salary support that will allow Dr. Gosha to enhance his research at Morehouse College. Dr. Gosha’s primary research interests include expanding computer science education, broadening participation in computing, green computing, and culturally relevant computing. Undergraduate researchers in his lab, the Culturally Relevant Computing Lab, investigate research problems centered on creating innovative computing technologies to solve cultural problems and issues. Applications of his research include robotics, avatars, and video games.