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I am a Visiting Assistant Professor at the School of Computing and Information at the University of Pittsburgh and am currently finishing up my PhD at the College of Information Sciences and Technology (IST) at Penn State University. Broadly, my research explores the relationships between underrepresented and marginalized groups and technology. On the "IT user" side, I explore how marginalized or vulnerable groups interact with, exchange, search for, evaluate, and assess health information online. On the "IT producer" side, I explore contributing factors to underrepresentation in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) fields and how to build theoretically-informed interventions that promote social inclusion.
Past and current project topics include: youth and health information seeking behavior, information quality and trust in social media, mobile applications and mental health, information ethics, and diversity and social inclusion within STEM fields. My dissertation examines how young people make decisions about fitness and nutrition information they interact with via social media. I'm particularly interested in the relationship between the intersection of multiple identity characteristics (race, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, age, and socioeconomic status) and how young people assess health information. I am the Assistant Director for the iSchool Inclusion Institute (i3), a research and leadership development program built to prepare undergraduate students from underrepresented populations for graduate study and careers in the information sciences. To learn more about i3, click here. In my teaching, I take a student-centered approach that encourages, empowers, and advocates for students to participate in shaping and customizing their learning experiences. To read more about my teaching philosophy, check out the teaching section of my website. |
news & updates
- Co-facilitating a workshop titled "Eyes on Ethics: Recognizing and Managing Ethical Dilemmas of Intellectual Property, Privacy and Social Media Issues in Libraries" at the Pennsylvania Library Association Annual Conference (PaLA, October 2017)
- Moderating the "Ethics and Technology" panel discussion, hosted by the Pittsburgh Young Professionals (PYP) organization (August, 2017)
- Full paper titled "Recovery and Maintenance: How Women with Eating Disorders Use Instagram," co-authored with Elizabeth Eikey, accepted for publication at iConference 2017
