Sharad Goel is assistant professor in Management Science & Engineering, and, by courtesy, in Computer Science and Sociology at Stanford University. He is also Executive Director of the Stanford Computational Policy Lab, a team of researchers, data scientists, and journalists that addresses policy problems through technical innovation. Dr. Goel’s primary area of research is computational social science, an emerging discipline at the intersection of computer science, statistics, and the social sciences. His work applies modern computational and statistical techniques to understand and improve public policy. Recent topics include: stop-and-frisk, tests for racial bias, algorithmic fairness, swing voting, election polls, voter fraud, filter bubbles, and online privacy. Sharad holds a Ph.D. in Applied Mathematics from Cornell University. Before joining the Stanford faculty, he worked at Microsoft Research in New York City.

Karina Alexanyan is the Member Benefits Manager with mediaX at Stanford University and moderator of the panel series. Dr. Alexanyan’s research background is in global social media networks, technology, and education. She has consulted for leading academic, corporate and non-profit clients, including Stanford, Harvard and Columbia Universities. Alexanyan holds a PhD in Communications from Columbia University, a M.A. in Communication from NYU and a BA in Linguistics and Modern Languages from the Claremont Colleges.