Biography
Laura Edelson is an assistant professor in the Khoury College of Computer Sciences at Northeastern University, based in Boston.
Motivated by the pressing global challenge posed by misinformation and disinformation, Edelson strives to make social media platforms safer and more beneficial for users. She studies the spread of harmful content through large online networks, covering algorithmic auditing, crowdsourcing, online engagement, and transparency for users.
This line of work took Edelson to New York University, where, as a doctoral and postdoctoral scholar, she conducted large-scale analyses of online paid political content on major platforms such as Facebook, Google, and Twitter, and developed methods to detect inauthentic content and fraudulent actors. She also won the university’s Brownstein Doctoral Research Award, and during her postdoctoral stint, she served as chief technologist in the US Department of Justice Antitrust Division. There, she investigated large technology markets and algorithms, helped expand the DoJ’s investigative capacity, and worked on competition technology policy.
At Khoury College, Edelson teaches “The Law, Ethics, and Policy of Data and Digital Technologies,” motivated to empower the next generation of engineers and scientists to consider the ethics of what they build and offer their expertise in policy discussions. For the same reasons, she is a member of the Council on Responsible Social Media. Outside of work, she is an avid skier, hiker, and climber.
