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.

related links: https://ischool.umd.edu/academics/phd-information-studies/admissions; https://ischool.umd.edu/academics/phd-information-studies/

If you have a background in information science / psychology / communication (quantitative) / computational social science / computer science / statistics or data science / public health / other related fields, I welcome your application. I will try my best but might not be able to respond to all individual emails from applicants.

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

• Which research questions or problems interest you?

• Why is my research group the right place to conduct this research?

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

• Are you proficient in R and/or Python? If so, what frameworks (ML, NLP, data 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: content on this page partially adapted from Drs. Benjamin Mako Hill, Lucy Lu Wang)