Google Fellowship 2021 application¶
Informantion¶
Links¶
Dates¶
Applications close 30th September 2020
Awardees are notified by January
Application¶
(See What should be included in an application? in the FAQs)
Single PDF file containing the following (broken down by category):
For others to do:
Cover sheet signed by the Department Chair confirming the student passes eligibility requirements. (See FAQ “What are the eligibility requirements for students?”)
Short (1-page) CV of the student’s primary advisor
Transcripts of current and previous academic records
2-3 letters of recommendation from those familiar with the nominee’s work (at least one from the thesis advisor)
For me to do:
Research / dissertation proposal including references (maximum 8 pages)
Student essay response (350-word limit) to: Describe the desired impact your research will make on the field and society, and why this is important to you. Include any personal, educational and/or professional experiences that have motivated your research interests.
Student essay response (350-word limit) to: Describe an example of your leadership experience in which you have positively influenced others, helped resolve disputes or contributed to group efforts over time. (A leadership role can mean more than just a title. It can mean being a mentor to others, acting as the person in charge of a specific task, or taking the lead role in organizing an event or project. Think about what you accomplished and what you learned from the experience. What were your responsibilities? Did you lead a team? How did your experience change your perspective on leading others? Did you help to resolve an important dispute at your school, church, in your community or an organization? And your leadership role doesn’t necessarily have to be limited to school activities. For example, do you help out or take care of your family?)
Already done:
Student CV with links to website and publications (if available)
Guidance¶
On how applications are evaluated:
Applications are evaluated on the strength of the research proposal, research impact, student academic achievements, and leadership potential. Research proposals are evaluated for innovative concepts that are relevant to Google’s research areas, as well as aspects of robustness and potential impact to the field. Proposals should include the direction and any plans of where your work is going in addition to a comprehensive description of the research you are pursuing.
Should also consider Google’s “AI principles”
Impact essay response¶
Student essay response (350-word limit) to: Describe the desired impact your research will make on the field and society, and why this is important to you. Include any personal, educational and/or professional experiences that have motivated your research interests.
Ideas
My research:
Studying algorithms to aggregate conflicting information from sources of varying trustworthiness
From the viewpoint of formal methods in theoretical computer science
Motivation:
Web and social media is now a major source of information for people across the world
It is not possible to enforce any kind of fact-checking
Misinformation and disinformation cause problems in society today (anti-vaxxers, climate change deniers, COVID-19/5G conspiracy theories)
Indeed, social media has been weaponised to polarise opinion (e.g. Russian Internet Research Agency [is this the right name?])
Studying mis/disinformation requires insight from many disciplines:
Social sciences: how do societies become polarised by false information? What can be done?
Psychology: why do people believe certain kinds of false information?
Computer science: can we attempt to detect (and counteract) false information in the digital sphere?
Impact:
My research has impact in the final area
By studying theoretical properties of algorithms to tackle false information and determine trustworthiness, we can:
Be clear about what the algorithms are doing. We should study exactly what truth-finding guarantees algorithms can provide in order to better understand the situations in which they should be applied
Understand how truth discovery relates to other aggregation problems (e.g. aggregating preferences or judgements)
Lay theoretical foundations for truth discovery algorithms to be studied and compared against one another
Lead to better algorithms due to theoretical insights which one might not obtain through purely empirical means
Draft
My research focuses on computational aspects of truth discovery: aggregating conflict information from multiple sources of unknown trustworthiness to find the truth. The problem is of great practical consequence in today’s age of the web and social media; it is well-known that mis- and dis-information from unreliable or malicious sources can reach wide audiences, and have real-world consequences (e.g. influence in political elections, affect adherence to expert medical advice etc).
To study problems relating to false information in their full extent requires research from multiple disciplines, including the social sciences, psychology, philosophy and computer science. Computer science can have impact through development of algorithms for truth discovery (e.g. to be applied on social media platforms or by end-users) and theoretical analysis of such algorithms. Much of the existing truth discovery literature in computer science falls under the first category. Many algorithms have been proposed, and empirical experiments have been run using large datasets to gauge accuracy and performance.
My research sits at the theoretical end. I am interested in applying formal methods – e.g. from computational social choice, argumentation theory and logic – to better understand and compare both individual algorithms and the process of truth discovery in general. For example, how many untrustworthy or malicious sources can an algorithm cope with and still find the truth? How does dependence between sources affect the ability to uncover true information? By investigating these questions and others in suitable probabilistic and formal frameworks, one can gain insights beyond that which can be obtained by empirical means. Such insights may be of interest in their own right, but can also have practical benefits via development of new algorithms with strong theoretical backing. Another strand of research looks to analyse existing algorithms with respect to their theoretical properties, which allows comparison between different approaches in a principled way.
Finally, this kind of research lays down the theoretical foundations required for future study and comparison of truth discovery algorithms. Such foundations have been set out to great effect for the related problems of belief revision, argumentation theory and judgement and preference aggregation in social choice.
350 words exactly
Leadership essay response¶
Student essay response (350-word limit) to: Describe an example of your leadership experience in which you have positively influenced others, helped resolve disputes or contributed to group efforts over time. (A leadership role can mean more than just a title. It can mean being a mentor to others, acting as the person in charge of a specific task, or taking the lead role in organizing an event or project. Think about what you accomplished and what you learned from the experience. What were your responsibilities? Did you lead a team? How did your experience change your perspective on leading others? Did you help to resolve an important dispute at your school, church, in your community or an organization? And your leadership role doesn’t necessarily have to be limited to school activities. For example, do you help out or take care of your family?)