Shilad Sen

Shilad Sen is a Professor and Chair of Computer Science at Macalester College in St. Paul, Minnesota, with a concurrent position as Principal Scientist at Microsoft. His academic appointment is within the Mathematics, Statistics, and Computer Science (MSCS) Department at Macalester College.

Professor Sen's research focuses on member-maintained websites that empower Internet users to contribute valuable information, with particular emphasis on tagging systems, recommender systems, and combinations of the two. His work draws upon the fields of Human-Computer Interaction (HCI), data-mining, psychology, and computer systems design. He has made significant contributions to understanding geographic barriers in Wikipedia content and developing systems that help users better contribute to online communities.

His research trajectory shows a consistent focus on understanding how people interact with information systems and how to design better systems that support community knowledge building. His work spans both theoretical contributions to understanding online communities and practical system development, including projects like Cartograph, Localness, WikiBrain, and Macademia. His recent work at Microsoft focuses on developing AI systems for products like Microsoft Outlook.

Professor Sen teaches a wide range of computer science courses including Object-Oriented Programming and Data Structures, Internet Programming, and Collective Intelligence. His research has been published in top-tier venues including CHI, with his 2015 paper 'Barriers to the Localness of Volunteered Geographic Information' being particularly influential in understanding geographic inequalities in Wikipedia content.

• BA in Mathematics from Northwestern University (1999)
• BM in Saxophone Performance from Northwestern University (1999)
• PhD in Computer Science from University of Minnesota (2009)

Before his academic career, Sen worked at Sourcelight Technologies building movie recommenders for companies like Blockbuster Video and Comcast, and also had positions at Google, IBM Research, Thomson Reuters R&D, and Target Corporation. Outside of academia, he is an avid jazz saxophonist and squash player.