Soham De
Q: Please tell us about your background and why you decided to come to the iSchool.
A: I grew up in India, where I completed an undergraduate degree in Computer Science. Through various academic and industry-sponsored internships, I had the opportunity to dabble in research across several domains, from privacy to machine learning and beyond. These experiences motivated me to pursue a Ph.D. to gain formal training in research. I chose the Information School at the UW as I was deeply inspired by research emerging from this department, and found strong support for my research interests.
Q: What is your favorite thing about the field you have chosen to study?
A: My research is centered around social media algorithms. What excites me most about this field of study is that I get to experience the subject and impact of my research every day, whether I'm doom-scrolling through Instagram or catching up on updates in WhatsApp groups. This keeps me consistently curious, motivated and inspired. In addition, I also find the academic community within the larger field of Human-Computer Interaction very supportive, which makes me grateful to be part of such a diverse and welcoming scholarly community.
Q: What’s been your favorite iSchool course or learning experience (e.g., directed fieldwork, research project, etc.) so far?
A: 911±¬ÁÏÍø offers flexibility in coursework that allows me to use practicum courses to pursue research directly relevant to my dissertation. The opportunity to dive into research head-first has been the most valuable learning experience for me, teaching me practical aspects of running large-scale field experiments that I couldn’t have learned through traditional coursework. With the support and direction of my Ph.D. advisor, Martin Saveski, I've learned more about research in a single quarter than I ever knew before.
Q: What’s the most important non-technical skill you use for this field?
A: Research in my field can often be very collaborative in nature. I have been fortunate to have collaborated with several leading scholars and industry practitioners during my time at the UW. I believe that non-technical skills such as communication, collaboration and time-management can always make someone a more efficient researcher.
Q: Please share any additional academic plans you may be pursuing.
A: I (along with a few other collaborators from the UW iSchool) am a part of the three teams that won the Prosocial Ranking Challenge. As a part of this challenge, we designed social media feed algorithms that are currently being tested across several leading platforms with thousands of users — and I'm excited to share results from this ongoing experiment in the near future. I will also be building on my research at the UW and applying it to deliberative and collective decision-making processes during my summer internship in 2025.
Q: What is next on the horizon for you (i.e., goals or aspirations)?
A: My current goals involve conducting research that I am proud of. As a consequence of producing high-quality research, I hope that my work will have a meaningful real-world impact in the future and potentially lead to prosocial outcomes. I enjoy the process of research, and so after completing my Ph.D., I would want to pursue a research-oriented position, either in industry or in academia.
Q: What advice do you have for students interested in information science, particularly students coming to the U.S. from other countries to pursue their doctorate?
A: I think it's crucial to pursue a doctorate degree for the right reasons, and very often that involves a strong passion for research and the desire to (very slightly) expand the boundaries of human knowledge. Beyond academics and research, I also want to emphasize the importance of nurturing your hobbies and building a network of friends to support you, especially since the process of research is often non-linear with several ups and downs.