Penn State connections lead doctoral student to interdisciplinary College of IST
Jason Lucas is pursuing a doctoral degree in informatics from the Penn State College of Information Sciences and Technology. Credit: Cole Handerhan / Penn StateUniversity Park, Pa.
Academic Journey
This feature story traces the interdisciplinary path that led Jason Lucas from the West Indies to Penn State’s College of Information Sciences and Technology, where he’s pursuing groundbreaking research in multilingual AI and harmful content detection.
Key Highlights
Multidisciplinary Foundation
- Information Technology: Bachelor’s degree at St. George’s University in Grenada, West Indies
- Health Informatics: Master’s in computer information systems at Boston University
- Public Health: Master of public health back at St. George’s University
- Current Focus: Doctoral degree in informatics at Penn State’s College of IST
Mentorship Network
- Theodore Hollis: Professor emeritus from Penn State’s Eberly College of Science, mentor at SGU
- Dongwon Lee: Professor and director of doctoral programs, current graduate adviser
- LinDiV Program: Transdisciplinary fellowship enhancing linguistic knowledge
- PIKE Research Group: Collaborative environment for data mining and security applications
Research Evolution
- Perfect alignment: Informatics field matching his interdisciplinary background
- AI and NLP solutions: Addressing societal challenges in healthcare and information integrity
- Multilingual focus: Developing technologies for languages with limited digital resources
- Social impact: Protecting vulnerable communities from manipulation and harmful content
Current Research Impact
PIKE Research Group
Lucas works within the Penn State Information Knowledge and Web (PIKE) Research Group, studying data management and mining across diverse forms with focus on social and security applications.
Research Goals
“Success in my work would look like advancing research for social good and developing deployable technologies that protect vulnerable populations from manipulation and harmful content. My ultimate goal is to further the development of inclusive language technology that not only bridges the digital language divide but also protects people from hidden manipulations that exploit psychosocial biases.”
LinDiV Fellowship Impact
- Filling gaps: Providing depth in linguistics and language sciences
- Transdisciplinary approach: Combining computational methods with linguistic theory
- Community building: Connecting with researchers across disciplines
- Research enhancement: Strengthening multilingual NLP capabilities
Looking Forward
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory Opportunity
Lucas is preparing for the Data Science Summer Institute at LLNL, where he will:
- Apply research: Work on projects of national importance
- Collaborate: Partner with leading scientists and engineers
- Bridge academia: Connect academic research with practical applications
- Gain experience: Access high-performance computing resources
Vision for Impact
Lucas aims to develop inclusive language technologies that can detect and counter harmful content across multiple languages, with particular relevance for defending communities whose languages aren’t prioritized by major tech platforms.
The Power of Interdisciplinary Education
“Throughout this journey, I was unconsciously building a multidisciplinary background that would later become my greatest strength. Learning directly from leading clinicians, public health professionals and technology experts across these institutions gave me a unique perspective on solving complex problems at the intersection of these fields.”
Lucas’s story demonstrates how diverse educational experiences, combined with strong mentorship, can create researchers uniquely positioned to tackle complex, real-world challenges.
Read the complete story to learn more about Jason Lucas’s academic journey and his vision for developing inclusive language technologies that protect vulnerable communities worldwide.
I am a PhD candidate in Informatics in the College of IST at Penn State University, where I conduct research at the PIKE Research Lab under the guidance of Dr. Dongwon Lee. I specialize in AI/ML research focused on Information Integrity, Safe and Ethical AI, including combating harmful content across multiple languages and modalities. My research spans low-resource multilingual NLP, generative AI, and adversarial machine learning, with work extending across 79 languages. I have published 12 papers with 260+ citations in premier venues including ACL, EMNLP, IEEE, and NAACL.
My doctoral research focuses on bridging the digital language divide through transfer learning, classification (NLU), generation (NLG), adversarial attacks, and developing end-to-end AI pipelines using RAG and Agentic AI workflows for combating multilingual threats. Drawing from my Grenadian background and knowledge of local Creole languages, I bring a global perspective to AI challenges, working to democratize state-of-the-art AI capabilities for underserved linguistic communities worldwide. My mission is to develop robust multilingual multimodal systems and mitigate evolving security vulnerabilities while enhancing access to human language technology through cutting-edge solutions.
As an NSF LinDiv Fellow, I conduct transdisciplinary research advancing human-AI language interaction for social good. I actively mentor 5+ research interns and teach Applied Generative AI courses. Through industry experience at Lawrence Livermore National Lab, Interaction LLC, and Coalfire, I bridge academic research with practical applications in combating evolving security threats and enhancing global AI accessibility. I see multilingual advances and interdisciplinary collaboration as a competitive advantage, not a communication challenge. Beyond research, I stay active through dance, fitness, martial arts, and community service.