Cella M. Sum is an interdisciplinary researcher and Ph.D. candidate at Carnegie Mellon University's Human-Computer Interaction Institute. She is advised by Dr. Sarah Fox and is affiliated with the Tech Solidarity Lab. She also served as a Research Assistant with Data & Society's Trustworthy Infrastructures team.
Her research focuses on technology, power, and resistance in labor and community contexts. She has explored how frontline workers at community-based organizations negotiate disempowering data and tech practices, how workers resist surveillance technologies, and how and why tech workers unionize. Her current research focuses on grassroots responses to the rapid expansion of data centers and AI infrastructure in Pennsylvania. Using community-based participatory design methods, she works with affected communities to co-create more just alternatives. Her work has been published at CSCW, CHI, and Science as Culture.
Cella holds a Master's degree in Human-Computer Interaction and Design from UC Irvine and a BS in Computer Science from Shippensburg University. She is a member of Collective Action in Tech and a former tech worker organizer with Big Cartel Workers Union. She has over 15 years of industry experience in software engineering, UX research, and design.
Recent News
- Aug 2026: I successfully defended my dissertation, "The Future of Labor: Designing for Resistance, Relationality, and Collective Power." Excited to be joining the University of Virginia's Digital Technology for Democracy Lab as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the fall!
- Apr 2026: Our project “Co-Designing Community-Driven Governance Frameworks for AI Infrastructure” has been awarded funding through the 2025-2026 Block Center Seed Fund
- Apr 2026: Co-Organizing "Fighting the Hype: Exploring Worker Resistance to AI and Automation" with DAIR Institute at Take Back Tech Conference in Atlanta, GA
- Apr 2026: Participated in the panel, "How to Stop a Data Center," at Swarthmore College
- Apr 2026: Our policy brief, Pennsylvania’s Power: Why Local Authority is the Key to AI Infrastructure Decisions, was published at Data & Society
See the full list of updates here.