Associate Professor Jodi Schneider has been selected as a 2024-2025 fellow of the Harvard Radcliffe Institute, an institute of Harvard University that fosters interdisciplinary research across the humanities, sciences, social sciences, arts, and professions.
According to the institute's announcement, "A yearlong Radcliffe fellowship provides the rare opportunity to intensely pursue ambitious projects in the unique environment of the Institute. Each fellowship class is drawn from some of the most thoughtful and exciting contemporary scholars in the humanities, sciences, social sciences, and arts—along with writers, journalists, playwrights, and other distinguished professionals. For this year's historic 25th anniversary class, Radcliffe accepted just 3.3 percent of applicants."
Schneider studies the science of science through the lens of arguments, evidence, and persuasion. Her long-term research agenda analyzes controversies applying science to public policy; how knowledge brokers influence citizens; and whether controversies are sustained by citizens' disparate interpretations of scientific evidence and its quality. As the Perrin Moorhead Grayson and Bruns Grayson Fellow at Radcliffe, she will examine how the online communication environment contributes to information disorder—collectively defined as misinformation, disinformation, and the weaponization of true information—and design interventions to mitigate it in the public communication of science.
"Spending next year at Harvard will be amazing," said Schneider. "I can’t wait to meet the other Radcliffe fellows. Constant feedback from brilliant colleagues across fields will help me develop a new turn in my research, towards design solutions for science misinformation."
Schneider holds a PhD in informatics from the National University of Ireland, Galway, master's degrees in library and information science from the University of Illinois and mathematics from the University of Texas at Austin, and a bachelor's in liberal arts (Great Books) from St. John’s College, Annapolis, Maryland.