Liang “Charles” Lyu

Liang “Charles” Lyu is a PhD candidate whose research interests include improving our understanding of social media and, more broadly, the impact of algorithms on humans and society, with the goal of developing effective strategies to mitigate potentially undesirable impacts, such as the spread of misinformation. Specifically, his research explores the interactions between platforms, users, creators, and content; the effects of platform algorithms and decisions on user behavior; and how these elements relate to societal issues. Supported by a MathWorks Fellowship, Charles will design new algorithms and models to address challenges in real-world scenarios, such as the interplay between social media engagement and diversity, and broader-level work, such as the creation of a framework to examine how taxation of social media advertising might affect behaviors. MATLAB tools are an important component of his work, which has the potential to deepen our understanding of the complex interactions between people and algorithms, maximizing benefits while guarding against possible negative outcomes.