Kimi W
- Research Program Mentor

PhD candidate at Carnegie Mellon University

Expertise

human-computer interaction, social media, tech ethics, AI ethics, privacy, UX design, computer science, social psychology, cognitive psychology

Bio

I'm a PhD candidate at Carnegie Mellon University specializing in AI ethics: As the tech sector grows and increasingly takes up space in our lives, it's imperative that we question and challenge the effects it has on society at large. I'm specifically interested in the impacts AI has on racial and gender minorities, and how to mitigate its adverse effects. My work lies at the intersection of psychology, design, and computer science. Previously, I studied usable privacy and security. Outside of my research life, I love cooking, playing sports, and relaxing with George (my very fluffy and adorable cat!).

Project ideas

Project ideas are meant to help inspire student thinking about their own project. Students are in the driver seat of their research and are free to use any or none of the ideas shared by their mentors.

Finding Algorithmic Success on TikTok

TikTok has grown exponentially in popularity, but how do you become popular on the platform? What are the ethics of promoting one creator over another? This project can take many directions depending on the student's interests. - Students interested in social justice may write an exposé on discriminatory factors that promote creators with certain characteristics or privileges. - Students interested in computer science may explore basic code that underlies social media platforms. - Students interested in law&policy may write a report on how social media platforms should be governed.

How safe are your selfies?

Cybersecurity and privacy is an incredible concern in the modern world. Whatever device you are reading this on undoubtedly has enormous amounts of information about you. Although the consequences of being hacked or having your online identity stolen are great, the average person does little to protect their data. How might we solve this? This project can take many directions depending on the student's interests. - Students interested in design may create digital privacy interventions to promote online safety. - Students interested in psychology may run a controlled experiment testing various privacy interventions. - Students interested in computer science may code an informational web page on privacy risks and practices. - Students interested in law&policy may write a report on how tech companies should approach consumer privacy.

Coding skills

HTML/CSS, python, javascript, R

Languages I know

Chinese (beginner), Japanese (intermediate)

Teaching experience

I've been working as a writing tutor since high school, and have helped students from a variety of levels (high school, undergraduate, graduate, and doctorate). I have an International Tutor Training Program Certification from the College Reading & Learning Association. In undergrad I was a TA for a few tech&society courses at Columbia University. I was also selected as a Computing Fellow for which I led computer science and data science workshops for non-STEM majors. Currently, I serve as a research mentor to several master's students at Carnegie Mellon University.