Researches on Christo Wilson

Algorithm Audits

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Sociotechnical systems driven by big data and (sometimes) machine learning are increasingly being deployed in the real world, in consequential scenarios like hiring, banking, access to governmental resources, and policing. These systems, whether intentionally or inadvertently, may exhibit problems like unfairness and bias that may negatively impact real people. One crucial mechanism towards achieving transparency and accountability around such systems is the algorithm audit: an independent evaluation of a system to ascertain whether (1) the purported functionality of the system matches it actual implementation, and (2) whether the system contains latent issues that may results in unfairness or bias.

Funding

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I have been fortunate to receive generous funding from several sources throughout my career.

Northwestern University/Underwriters Laboratories. Dark Patterns in AI-enabled Consumer Experiences, June 1 2023 – December 31 2025. Co-Primary Investigator, joint with David Choffnes. $275000.
National Science Foundation. Supplement: Mid-scale RI-1 (M1:IP): Observatory for Online Human and Platform Behavior, January 1 2023 – September 30 2026. Co-Primary Investigator, joint with David Lazer and David Choffnes. $167000 (NEU), $500000 (Total).
National Institute of Health. Older Adult Suicidality and Social Behavior (OASIS-B), January 1 2022 – December 31 2026. Co-Primary Investigator. $931000.
National Science Foundation. Mid-scale RI-1 (M1:IP): Observatory for Online Human and Platform Behavior, October 1 2021 – September 30 2026. Co-Primary Investigator, joint with David Lazer and David Choffnes. $15717700.
Pymetrics. Auditing Pymetrics Models for Gender and Racial Bias, March 26 2020 – July 31 2020. Co-Primary Investigator, joint with Alan Mislove. $104465.
Google. 2019 Android Security and Privacy REsearch project (ASPIRE), December 1 2019. Co-Primary Investigator, joint with David Choffnes. $75000.
Russell Sage Foundation. Assessing Algorithmic and Human Selective Exposure to Political Information, September 1 2019 – August 31 2020. Co-Primary Investigator, joint with Brendan Nyhan (Dartmouth) and Andrew Guess (Princeton). $172057.
National Science Foundation. CHS: Small: Auditing Critical Dependencies Between Online Media Platforms, August 15 2019 – July 31 2022. Primary Investigator. $499811.
Sloan Foundation. Sloan Fellowship, June 1 2019 – May 31 2021. Primary Investigator. $75000.
National Science Foundation. CNS Core: Large: Collaborative Research: Towards an Evolvable Public Key Infrastructure, June 1 2019 – May 31 2022. Co-Primary Investigator, joint with Dave Levin (UMD) and Alan Mislove and Bruce Maggs (Duke) and Bryan Parno (CMU) and Taejoong Chung (RPI). $400936 (NEU), $1200000 (Total).
Anti-Defamation League. Exposure to Hateful and Conspiratorial Content on YouTube, May 16 2019 – May 15 2020. Co-Primary Investigator, joint with Brendan Nyhan (Dartmouth) and Andrew Guess (Princeton) and Jason Reifler (Exeter). $50000.
Mozilla Foundation. Integrating Value Sensitive Design Training Throughout the CS Curriculum, April 22 2019 – July 12 2020. Primary Investigator, joint with Ronald Sandler. $148349.
National Science Foundation. Planning Grant: Engineering Research Center for Sharing economy - Humans, Automation, Resilience and Engineering: SHARE, September 1 2018 – July 31 2019. Co-Primary Investigator. $99423.
Democracy Fund. Misinformation on Social Media Platforms Around the 2018 Election Season, September 1 2018 – August 31 2019. Co-Primary Investigator, joint with David Lazer. $40000.
Russell Sage Foundation. Inequality in Online Labor Markets, July 1 2017 – June 30 2019. Primary Investigator, joint with Aniko Hannak and David Lazer. $113628.
Northeastern University. TIER 1: Uncovering Strategic Consumer Data Collection and Sharing in Online Markets by Tracing Information Flows, July 1 2017 – June 30 2018. Co-Primary Investigator, joint with Yakov Bart. $50000.
National Science Foundation. CAREER: Towards Methodologies and Tools for Conducting Algorithm Audits, CHS-1553088, July 1 2016 – June 30 2021. Primary Investigator. $504000.
National Science Foundation. TWC: Medium: Collaborative: Measuring and Improving the Management of Today's PKI, CNS-1563320, July 1 2016 – June 30 2020. Co-Primary Investigator, joint with Dave Choffnes and Alan Mislove and Dave Levin (UMD) and Tudor Dumitraş (UMD). $598000 (NEU), $1198000 (Total).
Knight Foundation. Public Access to Pricing Personalization, August 1 2015 – June 30 2016. Co-Primary Investigator, joint with David Lazer and Alan Mislove. $35000.
Data Transparency Lab. Revealing and Controlling Mobile Privacy Leaks, July 1 2015 – July 1 2016. Co-Primary Investigator, joint with David Choffnes and Alan Milsove. $55000.
National Science Foundation. CHS: Medium: Towards Transparency of Personalization on the Web, CHS-1408345, July 15 2014 – June 30 2018. Primary Investigator, joint with David Lazer and Alan Mislove. $743000.
Intelligent Automation, Inc.. A Trusted Framework for Embedded Systems, January 1 2014 – December 31 2015. Co-Primary Investigator, joint with Engin Kirda and Wil Robertson. $225000.
National Science Foundation. CSR: Small: Towards Confederated Web-Based Services, CNS-1319019, September 1 2013 – August 31 2016. Co-Primary Investigator, joint with Alan Mislove. $499000.
Verisign Labs. Quantifying WHOIS Usage and Defending Against Abuse, July 1 2013. Primary Investigator, joint with Engin Kirda. $20000.

Service

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I frequently serve on conference committees, NSF panels, and other miscellaneous organizational roles in the academic community, as well as on committees within Northeastern.

Service to the Institution

College Service

Chair, Undergraduate Committee, 2023–present
Affiliate Member, Institute for Experiential AI at Northeastern, 2021–present
Affiliate Member, Center for Law, Innovation and Creativity, 2020–present
Member, Tenure Committee, 2018–present
Member, Institute Advisory Board, Cybersecurity and Privacy Institute at Northeastern, 2018–2025
Representative, Undergraduate Committee, 2017–2023
Representative, Khoury Postdoctoral Scholar Committee, 2023
Interdisciplinary Search Chair, Hiring Committee, 2021–2022
Representative, Academic Integrity Committee, 2017–2020
Representative, Teaching Award Committee, 2017–2020
Faculty Advisor, Northeastern University Planeswalkers, 2017–2019
Representative, Program Design Principals Reform Committee, 2016–2017
College Evangelist, 2015–2016
Faculty Advisor, Northeastern chapter of the ACM Club, 2014–2022
Representative, Hiring Committee, 2014–2015
Representative, Faculty Merit Committee, 2014
Representative, PhD Committee, 2012–2014

University Service

Students

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Current Students

I have the honor of working with many talented students at Northeastern. I am currently advising several PhD and undergraduate students:

PhD Students

Desheng Hu: Using natural language processing techniques to measure changes in language usage over time, as well as the linguistic biases that are embedded in large-scale systems.
Muhammad Abu Bakar Aziz: Algorithm auditing and online privacy.
Sarah Gillespie: Privacy and security of connected cars.
Athicha Srivirote: Privacy concerns with in-browser tracking and advertising technologies.

Former Students

In the past, I’ve worked with many talented PhD, masters, and undergraduates students.