As political division increasingly dominates online discussions and daily interactions, a University of Michigan researcher has been chosen as one of the latest Andrew Carnegie Fellows to explore technology’s potential in bridging these divides. Ceren Budak, an associate professor of information and electrical engineering and computer science, is among 24 scholars awarded a $200,000 research stipend to investigate political polarization and possible remedies. Her work aims to provide insights into reducing digital divides and fostering healthier discussions.
Ceren Budak’s Research and Contributions
Ceren Budak, also the associate director of the Center for Social Media Responsibility and a faculty fellow at the Center for Political Studies at the Institute for Social Research, expressed her honor in being named a fellow. As a computational social scientist, her research focuses on public discourse, misinformation, and collective behavior on digital platforms, incorporating methods like machine learning and network science.
Budak’s studies have been featured in leading journals across various disciplines. She has led significant field experiments on social media interventions and served on a National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine committee examining social media’s impact on youth. Additionally, she was a 2023-24 faculty fellow at Stanford University’s Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences.
Investigating Social Media Interventions
The project titled “User Agency and the Trade-offs of Reducing Polarization Online” builds on Budak’s findings that algorithmic interventions in social media differ in effectiveness across users and platforms. She aims to create educational materials that accurately reflect the complexities of social media interventions, moving beyond oversimplified narratives.
Budak critiques the conventional top-down approach of designing interventions without user input. Her vision involves empowering users and communities to navigate these trade-offs for improved outcomes. Carnegie has allocated $18 million to this initiative, providing 78 fellows since 2024 with grants for up to two years of dedicated research.
“Andrew Carnegie saw it as his mission to encourage investigations, research, and discovery for the improvement of mankind,” said Dame Louise Richardson, president of Carnegie Corp. of New York. “Through our fellows, we aim to understand and mitigate political polarization’s impacts on American society.”
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