Isaac Robinson ’18 Explores Tech for Social Good

Isaac Robinson ’18 wasn’t interested in computer science prior to coming to Exeter, but an introductory course with Instructor Sean Campbell was revelatory. Inspired by Exeter’s dress code, his final project was a web application that helped users color-coordinate shirts and ties. “It was a ton of fun to build,” he recalls. “I wondered what else I could do with the technology.” He dove further into the computer science curriculum, taking several more courses. “I found them widely applicable to things I was interested in, like government and politics, physics and biology,” he says. “Computer science seemed like an all-purpose tool.”

Now a senior at Harvard College and recently named a Rhodes Scholar, Robinson is interested in applying computational thinking to address public policy issues and build equity in the tech sector. As a member of Harvard’s Tech for Social Good, a student-run group developing products for under-resourced social impact organizations, Robinson is helping introduce a bill into the Massachusetts legislature related to auditing algorithms for fairness in hiring. “Hiring platforms use AI, and if the algorithms are biased in any way, it perpetuates negative biases in hiring systems,” he says.

Robinson graduates this spring with degrees in computer science and mathematics; he will pursue master’s degrees in advanced computer science and comparative social policy at the University of Oxford. “Technology can be used to do incredible things and raise the standard of living of people around the world,” he says. “It won’t solve all of the world’s problems, but it can be an incredible source for good.” students, further legitimizing computer science as valuable coursework and making Exeter one of the first prep schools to require computer science for graduation. Instructor Matt Brenner recommended the course, believing that understanding computers would help students fully understand contemporary social issues; the new course was first offered during the 2005-06 school year.

As computer science has evolved over the last 20 years, so, too, has Exeter’s curriculum. Now led by three fulltime computer science instructors teaching more than 30 sections of computer science a year, the program combines practical learning with less structured room to explore (course content for CSC590, for example, is suggested by former students, and the class can be taken more than once). “We have a lot of hands-on learning,” Sean Campbell says. “People don’t perceive computer science as a creative act, but students are creating and they bring all kinds of other interests, connections and abilities to their projects. It’s cool to see what they come up with.” E