Research Overview

My work focuses on using computer science to better understand the world around us.

I began my career as a researcher working in the field of computing for the developing world (ICTD) while an undergraduate at Cornell University. Working with Richard Anderson at the University of Washington, I developed a mobile phone system called eKichabi for rural users in Tanzania, where I traveled to oversee focus groups and a preliminary deployment.

I have also worked in the area of accessibility, collaborating with Jon Froehlich to develop a computer vision system which can entirely automatically detect sidewalk problems in Google Streetview data with performance approaching that of human labelers. This work won the Best Student Paper Award at ASSETS 2019.

Presently, my focus is on developing causal inference methods for text data. I am especially interested in applying these methods to better understand governance of online communities such as Reddit, Wikipedia, and others. I’m currently advised by Tim Althoff at the UW Allen School where I’m a PhD student.