Fostering the next generation of innovators, leaders, and researchers shaping technology to achieve positive societal outcomes.
Our Vision
The societal and economic impacts of digital technology are only becoming more powerful, and with it, a growing desire among graduate students, researchers, and practitioners to intentionally shape technology to serve public needs.
The Public Interest Technology (PiTech) Initiative at Cornell Tech is addressing this demand by curating engagement opportunities for graduate students and researchers to apply their technical expertise in service of public needs and incorporate public objectives explicitly into the pursuit of technological innovation.
We are activating a community of technologists, researchers, and practitioners dedicated to societal challenges who will shape technology toward positive societal outcomes.
Philanthropic Partners
PiTech is made possible by generous gifts from the Siegel Family Endowment and Frederic and Susan Rubinstein, along with support provided by The Atlantic Philanthropies and a collection of other donors committed to our mission of advancing technology for a better world. We are enormously grateful to our philanthropic partners, who have played a critical role in making our work and impact a reality.
Learn more about our work!
Meet the Team
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Deborah Estrin
Deborah Estrin is a Professor of Computer Science at Cornell Tech in New York City where she holds The Robert V. Tishman Founder's Chair, serves as the Associate Dean for Impact, and is an Affiliate Faculty at Weill Cornell Medicine.
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Kate Nicholson
PITECH DIRECTOR OF PROGRAMS AND PARTNERSHIPS
Kate leads our programmatic efforts to strengthen Cornell Tech's relationships with public sector organizations in New York City and foster the next generation of innovators, leaders, and thinkers shaping technology toward positive societal outcomes.
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Malgosia Rejniak
As PiTech’s inaugural director, Malgosia built and scaled educational and engagement opportunities for Cornell Tech students to apply technological expertise in service of public needs and built a foundation for our partnerships with public sector and non-profit organizations in NYC and beyond.
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Johanna Delgado
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Matthew Klein
PITECH IMPACT STUDIO INSTRUCTOR
Matt leads the alignment of Robin Hood Foundation’s programmatic and public policy teams, overseeing organization-wide goals, metrics, and impact. As PiTech Impact Studio Instructor, Matt brings extensive experience in nonprofit, philanthropic, government, and civic leadership to guide students exploring public interest technology.
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Sergio Marrero
Sergio leads the Blue Ridge Labs team at Robin Hood Foundation. Previously, he led the George Schultz Innovation Fund at the University of Chicago and founded Rebel One, an investor community focused on accelerating diversity in venture capital and entrepreneurship. Sergio graduated from Harvard Business School and the Harvard Kennedy School of Government, where he did his thesis on startup studios and accelerating the launch of social enterprises.
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Sera Linardi
SIEGEL PITECH FACULTY IMPACT FELLOW
Sera is an Associate Professor of Economics at the Graduate School of Public and International Affairs in the University of Pittsburgh, where she founded the Center for Analytical Approaches for Social Innovation (CAASI), an incubator of community-co-created social justice data projects.
Sera’s primary focus is creating a sustainable future for Equity and Access in Algorithm, Mechanism and Optimization (EAAMO), whose mission is to integrate the perspectives of underserved groups into the core of algorithmic and computational research. Her research consists of field and lab experiments to understand what it means to “do good.”
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Nicki Dell
SIEGEL PITECH FACULTY IMPACT FELLOW
Nicki is an Associate Professor at the Jacobs Technion-Cornell Institute at Cornell Tech and in the Information Science Department at Cornell University. She advises PhD students in Information Science and Computer Science. At Cornell, she co-founded and co-directs the Clinic to End Tech Abuse. She also co-leads 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 (PiTech) Initiative.
Nicki is the recipient of a MacArthur Fellowship (2024), SIGCHI Societal Impact Award (2023), and NSF CAREER Award (2018). She earned her Ph.D. in Computer Science and Engineering at the University of Washington.
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Matt Stempeck
Founder of the Civic Tech Field Guide, the world’s largest collection of tech projects for the public good, as featured in Democracy Technologies magazine and GovTech Magazine’s ICYMI podcast.
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Christina Ko
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Lyel Resner
Lyel served as the Head of the Public Interest Technology Studio at Cornell Tech. He co-leads the Startups & Society Initiative (SSI) — a nonprofit research project backed by Ford, OSF, and Omidyar to support founders and investors with responsible innovation practices.
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Naomi Cervantes
Who We Work With
Our NYC-based partner organizations draw from government, civil society, and the nonprofit sector, spanning many critical subject matter domains, including:
Public health: health care provision and accessibility
Social justice: food insecurity, criminal justice reform, and economic inequality
Trustworthy media ecosystems: combatting racism, hate speech, and misinformation
Public services: public service provision, housing, transportation, and civic engagement
Environment: sustainability and conservation
Host organizations
Join our Team
The PiTech Initiative is activating a community of technologists, researchers, and practitioners dedicated to societal challenges. As we grow, we are building a team committed to meaningful impact and centered around diversity, equity, and inclusion. Reach out to pitech-info@tech.cornell.edu if you’re interested in joining us.