The Race + Data Science Lecture Series aims to celebrate and advance research in the areas of race and data, engineering, and computational science. With this series of events, our goal is to improve how we as data scientists and data-adjacent researchers speak about race. 

Guest Speaker

Danaë Metaxa, PhD, Computer Science, Stanford University; and incoming Assistant Professor of Computer and Information Science at the University of Pennsylvania, with a secondary appointment in Penn’s Annenberg School for Communication

Details & Recording

Wednesday, November 10 (2:00 PM – 3:00 PM ET) – Virtual

Chair & Moderator

Desmond Upton Patton, Associate Director of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, The Data Science Institute, Columbia University. Patton is also Associate Professor of Social Work; Associate Dean of Curriculum Innovation and Academic Affairs; and Courtesy Appointment in Department of Sociology, Columbia University School of Social Work.

Abstract & Biography

Representation and Belonging in Sociotechnical Systems

Algorithms play a central role in our lives today, mediating our access to civic engagement, social connections, employment opportunities, news media and more. While the sociotechnical systems deploying these algorithms—search engines, social networking sites, and others—have the potential to dramatically improve human life, they also run the risk of reproducing or intensifying social inequities and tensions. In my research, I ask whether and how these systems are biased and how those biases impact users, towards the aim of building better ones. In this talk, I will describe my work conducting algorithm audits and randomized controlled user experiments to study representation and bias, touching on examples including my recent audit of gender and racial representation in image search results, and ongoing work studying representation in online advertising by building tools to make audits more accessible and sustainable for researchers.

Bio: Dr. Danaë Metaxa (they/them) is an incoming Assistant Professor of Computer and Information Science at the University of Pennsylvania, with a secondary appointment in Penn’s Annenberg School for Communication. Dr. Metaxa received their PhD in Computer Science from Stanford University in 2021, and is currently a Postdoctoral Researcher at Stanford’s Center for Philanthropy and Civil Society, working on the Program for Democracy and the Internet. Previously, Danaë received dual undergraduate degrees from Brown University in Computer Science and Science & Society. During their academic career they have had the honor of being recognized by several awards including an NSF Graduate Fellowship and an Anita Borg Memorial Scholarship from Google. Their research has been published and awarded at top computer science conference venues including CHI and CSCW. 

The Race + Data Science Lecture Series is supported by funding from the MacArthur Foundation and New America.