I am here, on Zoom.
ABOUT ME
A philosopher by training, I work at the intersection of technology, ethics, and policy. My research aims to highlight normative issues in the design, development, and use of digital technologies, and to clarify conceptual issues that stand in the way of addressing them through law and other forms of governance. At the moment, I'm especially focused on questions about privacy, online influence, and automated decision-making.
I am the Haile Family Early Career Professor and assistant professor in the College of Information Sciences & Technology, research associate in the Rock Ethics Institute, and affiliated faculty member in the Philosophy Department at Penn State University.
From 2016-18, I was an assistant professor in the Philosophy Department at San Jose State University. Before that, I was a postdoctoral research fellow at the Information Law Institute at New York University's School of Law, a member of the Institute's Privacy Research Group, and a visiting scholar in NYU's Department of Media, Culture, and Communication.
NEWS
Prospective students: I'm currently recruiting. If you're interested in pursuing an MS or PhD and our research interests align, get in touch!
- New paper — I contributed a chapter on "Predictive Policing and the Ethics of Preemption" to The Ethics of Policing: New Perspectives on Law Enforcement. [7/2021]
- New paper — Vincent Grimaldi and I presented our paper "Measuring Automated Influence: Between Empirical Evidence and Ethical Values" at the 2021 ACM/AAAI Conference on AI, Ethics, and Society. [5/2021]
- My online manipulation work, with Beate Roessler and Helen Nissenbaum, is discussed in a new European Commission report on democracy and digital influence. [10/2020]
- Kiel Brennan-Marquez and I participated in the "Data and Democracy" Symposium at Columbia University's Knight First Amendment Institute, where we presented a new paper on "Privacy, Autonomy, and the Dissolution of Markets." [10/2020]
- New paper — I published a short essay, "Ethical Considerations for Digitally Targeted Public Health Interventions," in a special issue of the American Journal of Public Health on addressing social media-driven misinformation. [10/2020]
- New paper — Sarah Rajtmajer presented our paper "Automated Influence and the Challenge of Cognitive Security" at the 2020 ACM Symposium on Hot Topics in the Science of Security. [3/2020]
- New Paper — My paper with Beate Roessler and Helen Nissenbaum, "Online Manipulation: Hidden Influences in a Digital World," was published in the Georgetown Law Technology Review! [12/2019]
- New paper — "Strange Loops: Apparent versus Actual Human Involvement in Automated Decision-Making" — co-authored with Karen Levy and Kiel Brennan Marquez, was published in the Berkeley Technology Law Journal! [12/2019]