Deborah Estrin received the Community-Engaged Practice & Innovation Award in recognition for her work on Cornell Tech’s Public Interest Tech (PiTech) Initiative, the spirit of which promotes Einhorn’s Center’s culture of students, faculty, staff and partners working together to create a better world. 

With PiTech, Estrin set out to create opportunities for public interest engagement and to develop programming that would fit into the busy lives of students and researchers in high-demand tech fields. Since its launch, the PiTech Initiative has centered on fostering the next generation of innovators, leaders and thinkers who will shape technology toward positive societal outcomes. In pursuit of this mission, Estrin designed the Initiative to foster high-quality community-engaged learning, leadership and research while meeting the specific needs of individuals at each stage of the academic career trajectory, Master’s students, PhDs, Postdocs and Faculty.