PEOPLE
Project Mentors
Dr. Megha Anwer
Associate Dean for Belonging, Equity, and Inclusion
Clinical Associate Professor at the John Martinson Honors College
Field of expertise: visual culture with a focus on film and photography; race, gender, caste, and class in representation; feminist studies; urban studies; anti-racist and inclusive pedagogies.
Currently accepting undergraduate student researchers on their projects? Yes. Please reach out to this faculty member directly for possibilities regarding the Visual Culture Research Group.
Dr. Jennifer Bay
Associate Professor of English & Director of Professional Writing
Field of expertise: Community Engagement; Technical and Professional Communication; Feminist Theory; Digital Rhetorics
Currently able to mentor TJL students on independent projects related to their expertise? Yes
Dr. Melissa Chomintra
Assistant Professor of Libraries and School of Information Studies
Field of expertise: critical cartography & spatial justice; feminist theory; critical information literacy; criminal justice data ethics
Currently able to mentor TJL students on independent projects related to their expertise? Yes
Dr. Andrew Flachs
Associate Professor of Anthropology
Field of expertise: anthropology, political ecology, agriculture, diverse economies
Lead of TJL Projects on: big data and agriculture, environmental decision-making, intersections of capitalism and agrarian change, local food and farming systems in the US, South Asia, and Eastern Europe.
Currently accepting undergraduate student researchers on these projects? Yes.
Dr. Matthew Hannah
Associate Professor of Libraries and School of Information Studies
Field of expertise: Digital Humanities; Cultural Analytics; Media Studies; Media Archaeology; Misinformation/Disinformation Studies; Critical Infrastructure Studies.
Lead of TJL Projects on: Strategies for Combatting the Spread of Mis/Dis/Malinformation; Critical Histories of Technology.
Currently accepting undergraduate student researchers on these projects? Yes.
Currently able to mentor TJL students on independent projects related to their expertise? Yes.
Dr. Bethany S McGowan
Associate Professor of Libraries and School of Information Studies
Field of expertise: Health Information Literacy; Information Literacy; Information Access; Information-Seeking Behavior; Civic Engagement and Diplomacy
Lead of TJL Projects on: General or Community-Specific Strategies for Improving Information-Seeking Behavior; Strategies for Combatting the Spread of Mis/Dis/Malinformation, including policymaking, civic engagement, and/or technology design; Information Access as a Human Right/Civil Right; Sustainable Technology Design for Closing the Digital Divide/Improving Information Access
Currently accepting undergraduate student researchers on these projects? Yes
Currently able to mentor TJL students on independent projects related to their expertise? Yes
Dani Parsons, M.S.
Honors Advisor
Field of expertise: social psyshology
Co-Lead with Dr. Weinberg of TJL Projects on: coded bias in hiring and talent acquisition practices using resume evaluating algorithms, with a focus on hiring discrimination towards transgender and gender-non-conforming people.
Currently accepting undergraduate student researchers on this project? Yes
Currently able to mentor TJL students on independent projects related to their expertise? No
Dr. Kali Rubaii
Assistant Professor of Anthropology
Field of expertise: anthropology; forensic ethnography; environmental health justice; displacement; toxicity and spatial politics; cement and concrete; supply chains; Middle East.
Lead of TJL Projects on: multi-generational health effects of environmental exposures from the war industry; how internally displaced farmers travel to and from their land during episodes of military violence; the militarized logics that propel the cement and concrete industry in Iraq.
Currently accepting undergraduate student researchers on this project? Yes, beginning spring 2025.
Currently able to mentor TJL students on independent projects related to their expertise? Yes
Dr. Daniel Schiff
Assistant Professor of Political Science
Field of expertise: AI policy and governance; social and ethical implications of technology; social policy
Lead of TJL Projects on: via Governance and Responsible AI Lab (GRAIL), tracking deepfakes and identifying impacts of policy solutions; AI attitudes survey research; AI GOvernance and Regulatory Archive (AGORA); police accountability and reform practices.
Currently accepting undergraduate student researchers on this project? Yes
Currently able to mentor TJL students on independent projects related to their expertise? No
Dr. Anish Vanaik
Clinical Associate Professor & Director of International Student Engagement
Field of expertise: Climate Crisis; History; Social Movements; political cartoons; colonialism; Marxism; South Asia.
Currently able to mentor TJL students on independent projects related to their expertise? Yes. He’s particularly happy to mentor projects from students interested in how technological solutions to the climate crisis interact with social, political and ethical questions.
Dr. Lindsay Weinberg
Director of the Tech Justice Lab & Clinical Assistant Professor in the Honors College
Fields of expertise: science and technology studies; media studies; feminist studies
Lead of TJL Projects on: data analytics in higher education; fairness in AI/ML
Currently accepting undergraduate student researchers on these projects? Yes
Currently able to mentor TJL students on independent projects related to their expertise? Yes
Dr. Rua M. Williams
Assistant Professor of Computer Graphics Technology
Field of expertise: Human-Computer Interaction; Human Factors; User Experience Design; Critical Disability Studies; Science and Technology Studies
Lead of TJL Projects on: adaptive technology rights and policy; "counterventions" in HCI (contesting interventionist and clinical domination in computing research); ethical consciousness in STEM researchers
Currently accepting undergraduate student researchers on these projects? Yes
Currently able to mentor TJL students on independent projects related to their expertise? Possibly
Staff Affiliates
Mariah Mendoza
Program Coordinator for Belonging, Equity, and Inclusion (BEI) in the John Martinson Honors College
Mariah Mendoza earned her B.A. in Political Science at Purdue in 2021. As the Program Coordinator for BEI, Mariah plans programs and events for the JMHC that address issues around diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging (DEIB). She also works closely with students, staff, and faculty members of the JMHC to enhance DEIB efforts not only within the college, but also the campus community.
Student Affiliates
- Sunaina Adhikari (General Management and Psychology)
- Anjali Bhati (Master of Science student in Computer Graphics Technology - UX Design)
- Carla D'Amato (Cell, Molecular, and Developmental Biology with a minor in Bioinformatics)
- Jordan Cooley (Cybersecurity)
- Khalya Dent (Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences)
- Prithvi Dhanabal (Aeronautical and Astronautical Engineering)
- Emily Hao (Computer Science and German)
- Arjun Janakan (Brain and Behavioral Science, Minor in Computer Science)
- Madhu Joshi (Cybersecurity, Computer Infrastructure and Network Engineering Technology)
- Irene Liang (Brain and Behavioral Sciences)
- Rebecca-Eli Long (PhD Candidate in Anthropology and Gerontology)
- Kamilka Nassr (Brain and Behavioral Sciences, Minor in Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies)
- Taylor Quinn (Cybersecurity and Computing Infrastructure and Network Engineering Technology)
- Ishan Tripathi (Applied Statistics)
- Madelyn Whitaker (Biological Engineering, Minors in Biological Sciences, Biotechnology, and Data Driven Agriculture)
- Wyatt Smith (Brain and Behavioral Sciences)
- Tejasi Raghuprasad (Industrial Engineering)
- Sarah O'Farril (Cybersecurity)
- Rachel Pfeifer (Data Science)
TJL Alumni
- Adam Hafez
- Gabi Ruderman
- Tessca Almeida
- Gary Chen
- Alyssa DeLouise
- Katie Schwind
- Mansoorah Kermani
- Benjamin Sierzputowsi
- Abigail Vincent
