Divya Ramjee, assistant professor in the Department of Criminal Justice, co-authored
“From ransoms to ruin: Are extortion payments by ransomware victims insurable?" The study supports the claim that extortion payments by ransomware victims should not be considered insurable by cyber insurance providers that use assumptions of classical ruin theory in their solvency determinations, encouraging an evidence-based approach for creating and applying cyber risk solvency standards by insurance regulators to ransomware-related extortion payments.
Dipkamal Bhusal, a computing and information sciences Ph.D. student, presented four pieces of work at the Neural Information Processing Systems Foundation Conference on Dec. 4 in San Diego. Showcasing his research in explainability, interpretability, and their applications in reliable AI is a novel framework for FACE (Faithful Automatic Concept Extraction), which uncovers the specific, trustworthy concepts that an AI model is using to make its final decision. This research is a crucial step forward in making sophisticated AI applications more transparent, trustworthy, and ready for real-world deployment.
Jessica Hardin, associate professor in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology, co-edited Savoring Care: Rethinking Life with Type 2 Diabetes, which reframes what it means to live with a chronic illness too often narrated through blame, surveillance, and individual responsibility. Savoring Care examines how people diagnosed with type 2 diabetes build wellness through everyday acts of nourishment, reciprocity, and community.
Chelsea Petree, director of Parent and Family Programs, has received the 2025 Outstanding Mentor Award by AHEPPP: Family Engagement in Higher Education. The award recognizes a professional who demonstrates exceptional commitment to mentoring and guiding colleagues within the field, fostering meaningful professional growth and development.
