Melody Chen is a Taiwanese-American pre-law based in California who writes and talks about digital humanism, media ecology, and responsible uses of AI & emerging technology.
A recent graduate ‘24 from UC Santa Barbara with two Bachelor of Arts degrees in Statistics & Data Science and Philosophy.
Resume
Sept 2021 - June 2024 Research Assistant at the Digital Political Inequality Lab with Professor Dan Lane at UC Santa Barbara
Dec 2023 - Apr 2024 President’s Advisory Commission Intern, White House Initiative on AA and NHPI
Sept 2022- Dec 2022 Research Intern at Brookings Institution with the Artificial Intelligence and Emerging Technology Initiative
Click here to view my full résumé.
Talks
Reclaiming Meaning in a Distracted World, (TEDxUCSB, April 26, 2024) — soon to be published on TEDx
Research
DIGITAL POLITICAL INEQUALITY LAB, UC SANTA BARBARA
Dan Lane, Melody Chen, and Yifei Wang. (Forthcoming). An Media as a Sorting Force?: Relationships between Media & Partisan Social Sorting.”
BROOKINGS INSTITUTION, ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE AND EMERGING TECHNOLOGY INITIATIVE
Audible Reckoning: How Top Political Podcasters Spread Unsubstantiated and False Claims - Brookings Institution, acknowledged for research contributions
Working the Western Hemisphere: How Russia spreads propaganda about Ukraine in Latin America and the impact of platform responses - Brookings Institution, acknowledged for research contributions
PRESS COVERAGE OF RESEARCH
“From ‘Data Dumping’ to ‘Webbing’: How Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Sells Misleading Ideas” - The New York Times
“Steve Bannon’s Podcast Is Top Misinformation Spreader, Study Says” - The New York Times
Data
Using Machine Learning Models to Classify Fake and Real News Text
This report was created as a final project for PSTAT 131 Introduction to Statistical Machine Learning at the University of California, Santa Barbara, with Professor Katie Coburn during Spring 2023. The purpose of this report is to build a fake news detection model that can detect language/emotion patterns in news headlines that characterize fake and real news.
Time Series Forecast of Crime Rates in San Francisco from Jan. 2003 to Jan. 2018
This report was created as a final project for PSTAT 174 Time Series at the University of California, Santa Barbara, with Professor Raya Feldman during Spring 2023. The purpose of this report is to find a model capable of predicting the number of committed crimes in San Francisco based on data from January 2003 to January 2018.
Published Visual Data, Brookings Institution
Click here to view my data visual clippings >>>
Policy writing
How Does the U.S. Export Control on Advanced Computing Semiconductors in China Ensure U.S.-Taiwan Chip Supply Chain Partnership
Final Policy Proposal Report written for a research seminar at the University of California Washington Center (UCDC) in Fall 2022
Click here to view my standout clippings >>>
And writing in various forms…
Big Brother and Black Boxes: Uncovering Human Bias in Automated Inventions - The Daily Nexus (Opinion)
BeReal is the False Heir of Social Media and Casual Authenticity - The Daily Nexus (Opinion)
Amidst Rising COVID-19 Concerns in I.V., SB County Supervisors Delay Public Health Urgency Ordinance - The Daily Nexus (News)
Globetrotting through dishes: Hands-on kitchen projects can still happen, even via Zoom - Los Altos Town Crier (Feature)
Retired engineer is a real 'ham’ - Los Altos Town Crier (Feature)
Los Altos native Lanman's music career stretches from coast to coast - Los Altos Town Crier (Feature)