Levi Kaplan

Education

• BS in Computer Science, Northeastern University 

Biography

Levi Kaplan is a doctoral student in the Khoury College of Computer Sciences at Northeastern University, based in Boston. He is advised by Alan Mislove.

After becoming involved in tech fairness research as a Northeastern undergraduate, Kaplan undertook a doctorate within the Cybersecurity and Privacy Institute in 2022 to study algorithm auditing and fairness; this involves investigating large companies like Facebook to find evidence of bias and potential for misuse of their platforms. Much of Kaplan’s work focuses on how social media platforms enable discriminatory advertising in the federally protected categories of housing, credit, and employment. For example, he has found that the race of the people depicted in employment ads can influence which people see those ads. Through his work, he hopes to make technology more equitable and less harmful, particularly for marginalized groups often excluded from tech design.

Kaplan's work has been recognized several times, including with a Distinguished Paper Award at IMC 2022. His research has been covered by Gizmodo and ProPublica, and also cited by Governor Lael Brainard in a speech to the Federal Reserve. In the future, Kaplan looks forward to exploring fairness on other social media platforms such as TikTok, as well as exploring other avenues of harm outside of targeted advertising. 

In his free time, Kaplan enjoys cooking, reading, and playing the electric bass.