My research is motivated by asking research questions about what data can tell us about our societies and how we can build more social support in online communities and navigate online harmful phenomena such as hate speech and violence. I focus on taking a deeper dive into these problems from a linguistic lens. As a Computer Scientist, given the interdisciplinary nature of problems I work on, I collaborate with social scientists, political scientists, linguists, and public health experts.
My teaching philosophy is deeply intertwined with the issues I explore in my research. I create connections between the theory of Computer Science and Social Computing concepts, problems, and applications. I strive to create a research-immersive experience for students, beginning during a student’s undergraduate studies, as undergraduate research has been shown to produce a variety of important benefits for the student, including enhanced learning, increased retention, increased enrollment in graduate programs, and development of critical thinking skills. Given my belief in undergraduate research, I co-direct the Early Research Scholars Program at CSE, UCSD.
Before moving to UC San Diego, I was a Postdoctoral Fellow at the School of Interactive Computing at Georgia Tech between 2020-2021 and was awarded a Ph.D. in Computer Science from UC Santa Barbara. Additionally, I was a Research Intern at the Berkman Klein Center for Internet and Society at Harvard University. I was selected as a 2020 UC Berkeley EECS Rising Star and I received the 2019 UCSB CS Outstanding Graduate Student award and the 2017 UCSB Fiona and Michael Goodchild Graduate Mentoring Award.
