About me

I’m an Assistant Professor at the Department of Communication Studies, Moody College of Communication at the University of Texas, Austin. I study how people engage with politics online. I am interested in how online spaces can foster spirited, engaging political discussions and contribute to building a vibrant deliberative democracy. I combine large-scale computational methods with qualitative interviews to (re)design online spaces to facilitate quality online political interactions.

I received my PhD in Information from the University of Michigan. Before starting my PhD, I worked at Doximity, a social network for medical professionals, as a data scientist for a few years. I have a Masters degree in Computer Science from Arizona State University. Before that, I completed my Bachelors degree in Computer Science from VIT University, India.

Students:

PhD students

I am looking for PhD students for Fall 2023 interested in doing large-scale computational or mixed methods research on online political discussions, political campaigns or polarization either in the US or Global South context. If you are interested in working with me, please reach out via email and apply to the communication studies program at UT.

Undergraduate and Masters students

If you are already at UT and are interested in doing research on social media and politics, reach out via email.

What’s new?

• September 2022: Humbled to receive the Gary M. Olson Outstanding Ph.D. Student Award for 2021-22 at my alma mater
• August 2022: Starting as an Assistant Prof. Hook ‘em!
• July 2022: Moved to sunny Austin, TX!