Stony Brook University has appointed Donghee Yvette Wohn as the inaugural chair of its new Department of Technology, AI and Society (DTAS) within the College of Engineering and Applied Sciences. Wohn, whose research spans human-computer interaction, artificial intelligence and online social behavior, will begin the role on September 1, 2026. The new department was created with a $5 million SUNY grant over three years to expand research and education around the intersection of AI and society.
The department is designed to study AI as more than a technical discipline. Its focus will include how AI is reshaping the economy, culture and social behavior, alongside issues such as online harassment, content moderation, digital identity, self-presentation and AI-generated content. Wohn brings experience from NJIT, Northwestern, Michigan State and Harvard's Berkman Klein Center, giving the department an interdisciplinary foundation that combines computing with communication and social research.
Education will be another major component. Undergraduate and graduate students will be able to declare majors in the department starting in 2027, while classes have already begun and faculty hiring is underway. Stony Brook says the department will collaborate with other units across the university rather than operate in isolation, reflecting the idea that understanding AI's impact requires perspectives from engineering, social sciences, communication, policy and other fields.
The broader significance is the growing shift in universities from teaching AI purely as computer science toward studying AI as a societal infrastructure. As generative AI changes how people work, communicate, create content and make decisions, universities increasingly need researchers who can examine both technical capabilities and human consequences. Stony Brook's new department is therefore an example of a larger educational trend: the next generation of AI expertise will increasingly combine technical literacy with an understanding of human behavior, institutions and society.
