Nicola Dell

I am an Associate Professor at Cornell Tech and part of the Jacobs Technion-Cornell Institute. I advise PhD students in Cornell's  Information Science and Computer Science departments. At Cornell Tech, I co-founded the Clinic to End Tech Abuse. I also co-lead the Initiative on Home Care Work in the Center for Applied Research on Work (CAROW) and was the 2023 Siegel Faculty Impact Fellow in the Public Interest Technology Initiative. I am the recipient of a MacArthur Fellowship (2024), SIGCHI Societal Impact Award (2023), Advocate of New York City Award (2019), and NSF CAREER Award (2018). I earned my Ph.D. in Computer Science and Engineering at the University of Washington.

My research operates at the intersection of human-computer interaction (HCI) and computer security & privacy (S&P). I study how computing technologies can facilitate harm, especially among at-risk communities, and develop systems, frameworks, and interventions that make our technology-mediated world safer and more equitable for everyone. I have worked with survivors of intimate partner violence, human trafficking, online hate and harassment, vulnerable workers, older adults, and more.

My work integrates interdisciplinary methodologies that, together, maximize the potential for near-term impact while advancing the foundations of HCI and S&P research. These methods include: (1) qualitative research to uncover and investigate technology’s role in facilitating harm; (2) measurement studies and analyses of existing tools, architectures, and usage patterns; (3) designing and building new systems, interventions, and theoretical frameworks that mitigate and prevent harm; (4) evaluating these new systems via fieldwork, deployments, and controlled experiments; and (5) transitioning my research results into practice via technology transfer and services that directly help those affected.