Prospective PhD students who are interested in working with me can apply to UMD iSchool's PhD in Information Studies program and mention my name in your application. If you have a background or an interdisciplinary background in information science (esp. those from informatics, HCI, AI, data science, computational social science tracks) / (social) psychology / (quantitative) communication / computer science (with interests in social science) / statistics or mathematics (with interests in social science) / public health / other related fields, I welcome your application. 

Admissions decisions are made collectively by the iSchool community. You can (but you don't have to) email me prior to your application, and I typically do not to speak to candidates in advance of the admissions process - this allows me to treat candidates equitably during the official review process. I aim to review all applications that mention my name and pass the initial screening by the admissions committee, and will invite those shortlisted candidates for an interview (around late December/early January). Please note that, I’m unable to provide feedback or evaluation on individual application materials in advance to ensure fairness in the review process. I also cannot answer whether an applicant will be accepted or not before you apply, as individual faculty members do not make admissions decisions on our own.

Please check these links for more information on PhD application via UMD iSchool and graduate school: 

https://ischool.umd.edu/academics/phd-information-studies/admissions; https://ischool.umd.edu/academics/phd-information-studies/; https://gradschool.umd.edu/funding/assistantship-information; https://gradschool.umd.edu/funding/student-fellowships-awards  

During your PhD journey, I'm here to support you as you explore ideas, critically engage with theories and literature, rigorously design and conduct data analysis for your research projects, and define and pursue your own research trajectory and career path. PhD study is a time to develop intellectual independence, and my role is to support, guide, and challenge you as you shape your scholarly identity. 

I aim to provide consistent and flexible support for my PhD advisees. In general, I am available to meet weekly or biweekly, depending on your needs and the stage of your work. I value both my time and yours, and believe our meetings should be as frequent and as long as is productive, but no more than that. Regular check-ins should serve to maintain momentum, address challenges, and support your intellectual and professional development. To help ensure our advising and research meetings are focused and efficient, I strongly encourage students to prepare and share a brief agenda with me before each meeting. These meetings can cover progress updates, brainstorming, feedback, or anything else that feels relevant - including roadblocks - whether academic, logistical, or beyond. I’d much rather hear about a potential issue early, even if it turns out to be minor, than too late when it’s harder to address. Open, ongoing communication helps us stay aligned and allows me to better support you. I also encourage my advisees to set their semester goals (short-term) and 3–5 year goals (medium-term) at the beginning of each semester so that I can better support you based on your goals. Setting clear goals helps provide direction, maintain focus, and track your progress throughout your academic journey. We review the goals together and refine them as needed to ensure they remain realistic and aligned with your evolving aspirations.

Even though our program guarantees funding for all admitted full-time students, typically through teaching assistantships, research assistantships, or university fellowships, I strongly encourage my PhD students to look for opportunities and apply for additional internal and external fellowships and research grants throughout their PhD studies. These opportunities include major external awards like the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship (NSF GRFP; for those eligible), corporate fellowships (e.g., from Microsoft, Google), and dissertation funding such as the National Science Foundation Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement Grant (NSF DDRIG; I was awarded one during my own PhD study) or the Social Science Research Council (SSRC) fellowships. UMD also offers competitive internal funding through programs like TRAILS and AIM. When I was a graduate student at Cornell and a postdoc at UW, I applied and received multiple competitive internal grants, and those were very rewarding experiences. Preparing these applications helps you clarify your research vision and sharpen your thinking. When you receive an award, it gives you more flexibility in your research, adds a strong credential to your CV, and creates more space for us to collaborate on deepening and refining your ideas. I'm happy to support you through this process, from identifying appropriate opportunities to brainstorming and reviewing drafts. Writing grant proposals is a skill that will serve you well in any research-driven career, and it’s worth developing early.

I support a range of career paths you are interested in pursuing, including those within or outside of academia, and I’m happy to help you think through and prepare for different options. My personal trajectory and experience are best aligned with students aiming for academic research careers.

The best way to contact me is via my work email (and through our advising meetings, of course). I try my best to be responsive and attentive to your needs. My working hours may differ from yours, and you should never feel obligated to reply to messages I send outside of normal work hours. I fully support your efforts to maintain a healthy and sustainable work rhythm.

I personally believe that successful scholarship is sustainable only when it is part of a balanced life. I encourage my students to set boundaries, maintain interests outside of work, and take care of their physical and mental well-being. As part of maintaining healthy boundaries, I prefer not to connect with students on personal social media platforms before you graduate (with the exception of professional sites like LinkedIn, BSky, etc.), as I see those spaces as part of your personal life, and prefer to respect that separation.

As I also acknowledged in my bio page, I have been incredibly fortunate to receive exceptional mentorship from my own academic advisors: Dr. Emma Spiro at UW, Dr. Jeff Niederdeppe at Cornell, Dr. Erin Ash at Clemson. I still maintain regular contact with them, as good mentorship can turn into a lifelong relationship. They were committed to my success; so will I be to my advisees. 

This is intended as a living document, and I update it when needed.

(acknowledgment: some content in this part was inspired by Drs. Jessica Gall Myrick, Mor Naaman, Sarita Yardi Schoenebeck)

If you would like to invite me to serve on your PhD dissertation committee, please include the following information in your initial email. Providing these details upfront will help me assess the alignment between your research and my expertise, and determine whether I can be of meaningful support to your work.   

• Your full name and program: Include your college/school/department, degree program (e.g., PhD in [Program Name]), and advisor(s)' name(s).  

• Dissertation topic / working title: A brief overview or working title of your dissertation. This helps me understand your general area of research.  

• Abstract or research summary (1–2 paragraphs): Please include a short summary of your research focus, including your central research question(s)  

• Methodological approach  

• Key theories or frameworks you’re engaging with (if applicable)  

• Your rationale for inviting me: A brief explanation of why you’re inviting me to join your committee, e.g., how my expertise is relevant to your topic, or what kind of input you hope I can provide.  

• Your anticipated timeline:  Proposal defense, dissertation research/writing, final defense  

• Any relevant documents (optional, but helpful): You may attach your dissertation proposal (draft or finalized), CV, or other relevant materials if available.  

Before you email: Please confirm with your advisor(s) that they approve of the proposed committee composition.  Check any institutional guidelines or eligibility criteria for committee membership, especially if I am external to your department or institution.

https://academiccatalog.umd.edu/graduate/policies/doctoral-degrees-policies/#doctoral-dissertation-and-examination 

Masters/Undergraduate students: I occasionally accept advanced undergraduate and Masters students (preferably enrolled at my institution) to conduct research. If you reach out, please include your CV, your transcripts, and the following information in your email:

• Which research areas (or specific research questions and problems) interest you? What methodology you plan to use or are most interested in learning?

• How do you want to get involved? Depending on your goals, skills, and availability - example roles include:

  1. Independent study or thesis research under my supervision. If this is the case, please provide the following information: 

     • A working title or brief description of your proposed research

     • The research questions or problems you plan to explore

     • The methodologies or approaches you intend to use

     • Your timeline (e.g., which semester(s) you plan to work on this project)

     • Whether this will fulfill any degree or departmental requirements

  2. Research assistant (volunteer or for-credit) for ongoing projects led by me or led by one of my advanced graduate students (depending on availability):

     • This typically involves supporting tasks such as for literature review; study design; data collection, cleaning, analysis; tool development; other technical or analytical support; etc. 

• Why is my research group the right place to conduct this research? How my expertise is relevant to your learning goals, or what kind of guidance you hope I can provide?

• What do you hope to get out of this collaboration?

• Are you proficient in R and/or Python? If so, what frameworks (ML, NLP, statistical analytics, data visualization, etc.) are you familiar with? If you have sample code from an open source project (not a class project), please send a link.

• Have you worked with other faculty before on research? If so, summarize what you worked on.

• Have you taken any courses with content in data science, (quantitative) research methods, statistics, NLP, AI, HCI, data/text mining (including any you are currently enrolled in)?

• If you have any research publications (for conferences, journals), please include these as an attachment and describe your contributions.

I will agree to write letters for students only if I am confident I can write a strong letter that will help your application. This is because a short, thin, or lukewarm letter is more likely to hurt your chances of admission into a program than help them. You should give me at least three weeks advance notice, and preferably more.

1. If you work(ed) with me closely (and ideally for at least 6 months) on research projects that I'm leading or supervising / I led or supervised in the past, you can email me to discuss about your potential LoR requests. 

2. If you were a student in my class, will I write you a letter of recommendation?

Like I said above, I will agree to write letters for students in my classes only if I am confident I can write a strong letter that will help your application. In general, if you did not actively participate in class or work with me outside of class in some manner (e.g., as a TA or participating in research), I would recommend that you ask someone else who knows you better and can speak to your qualities. In other words, I should have some sense of your skills, work ethic, and personality that goes beyond just the grade you received in my class.

I also ask that you meet the following criteria:

• You have fully completed a class with me

• You did well in my class

• You give me at least three weeks advance notice, and preferably more

• You will waive your right to read your letter

In addition to all this, it also matters what the letter of recommendation will be used for. If you are applying to Masters programs or fellowships, meeting the above criteria is generally sufficient. If you are applying to PhD programs, I will write you a letter only if we have worked together in a research capacity.

(acknowledgment: this part was partially adapted from Drs. Benjamin Mako Hill, Lucy Lu Wang)