About me

I am a 6th and final year PhD student in Societal Computing at Carnegie Mellon University advised by Prof. Kathleen Carly. I am a member of the Center for Informed Democracy and Social Cybersecurity (IDeaS) and the Center for Computational Analysis of Social and Organizational Systems (CASOS).

My thesis proposal focuses on developing effective and practical countermeasures to misinformation. While there has been substantial work on analyzing the effectiveness of various interventions, little work has been conducted on user acceptance - a critical component for the implementation of countermeasures. I study a wide range of interventions, from those at the individual level (reporting misinformation you see on social media to the platform) to the platform or government levels. There are many societal challenges associated with social media misinformation and polarization, so understanding which countermeasures are both effective and practical is crucial.

Before coming to Carnegie Mellon University, I earned a BS in Mathematics at the College of William and Mary, where I completed my undergraduate thesis, “Nonlinear Models of Zooplankton Communities” with Prof. Sarah Day and Prof. Drew LaMar. I then went on to complete my MS in Computational Operations Research at the College of William and Mary, where I worked on my Master’s capstone simulation project with Prof. Lawrence Leemis. For my Master’s project, I developed a simulation to lower voting times on Election Day by optimizing the number of resources. I then worked for a few years in industry, including as a Data Scientist at MITRE, before deciding to attend CMU to obtain my PhD.

Last Updated: August 16th, 2024