Current NYU Shanghai Global Research Initiatives Fellows

Andre Mendes da Silva
PhD Candidate, Department of Computer Science, Tandon
Email:
amd871@nyu.edu

Synopsis of Research in Shanghai (September 11- November 29)： 

Andre Mendes da Silva’s work involves using machine learning to create recommendation systems that can be applied to different fields. One direct application is the hyper agent (http://julian.togelius.com/Mendes2016HyperHeuristic.pdf) that uses artificial intelligence to select subagents to play general video game competitions. Another field is people analytics where he develops recommendation systems that are able to improve different selection processes, such as job applications, turnover rate, and career paths. In his research, he has developed a framework that uses sub-neural networks to collect features from different types of data that include categorical, numerical, video, and audio. These features are ultimately combined and used as input for a hyper-neural network that is able to predict the chance of an applicant becoming a top manager or the chance that a talented employee will leave a company. While at NYU Shanghai da Silva plans to develop research and work with the renowned people in his field, such as professors Nan Cao, Zheng Zhang, and Keith Ross.

Jeannie Kim
PhD Candidate, Department of Sociology, GSAS
Email:
jk3132@nyu.edu

Synopsis of Research in Shanghai (Septermber 19 - December 16)： 

Existing research on educational inequality has largely focused on how students who lack the cultural capital that function in schools, fall behind. Fewer studies have examined how teachers may be intentionally or unintentionally evaluating students based on these dominant cultural norms. If beliefs matter for teacher practices and those practices have significant impacts on student outcomes, it is important to consider the ways in which educational environments can influence teachers, in not only the expectations they set, but also in the ways in which they evaluate their students. Using restricted data from large national probability education surveys and multi-level methods of analyses, Kim’s current research explores and expands upon research that looks at the influence of school composition on teachers’ evaluations of student academic effort and student outcomes. Understanding how and in what ways school structures may be influencing teacher behaviors is an important factor to consider in understanding educational inequality.

Madeline Muldoon
Master of Arts Candidate, Department of Individualized Study, Gallatin
Email:
mm4856@nyu.edu

Synopsis of Research in Shanghai (September 11 - November 16)： 

Muldoon’s thesis examines the emergence of culinary and dining culture in the U.S., with New York City serving as a focal point in her exploration of the material and cultural study of food. She is interested in tracing the shifts in dining culture in the past three centuries, as the codified French school of haute cuisine that long dominated the occidental approach to food was supplanted by new approaches to food and dining, which emphasize cultural omnivorousness. Inherent in this switch from elite “gourmet” to democratic “foodie” culture is the emergence of tandem values of authenticity and exoticism – two characteristics frequently associated (at least from an occidental standpoint) with cuisine from Asia.

Meng Jiang
PhD Candidate, Department of Cinema Studies, Tisch
Email:
mj1078@nyu.edu

Synopsis of Research in Shanghai (Sept 3 - Nov 30)：

Jiang’s dissertation aims to investigate the discursive practices of non-fiction moving image arts, produced in China from late 1970s to the present time. Jiang will examine the ways in which documentary, as a mode of socially-engaged image-making, not only transforms Chinese post-socialist independent film and video art, but also is itself transformed by the country's accelerated and uneven development under the techno-economic conditions of the information age. While the state holds no official records of these oftentimes dissident contents, relevant archives are usually found among individual collectors. Jiang has established contact with four scholars/artists who reside in Beijing, Nanjing and Shanghai.

Alex Ruthmann
Associate Professor, Music and Performing Arts Professions, Steinhardt
Email:
sar17@nyu.edu

Synopsis of Research in Shanghai (September 2 - December 13)：

Professor Ruthmann’s main research project - Play With Your Music - is focused on developing interactive learning materials for creative experience design and innovation for the Chinese education and technology markets. Building on the connections he has with the NYUSH Program on Creativity and Innovation (PCI), which has taken the form of a new presence for his research lab - MusEDLab - at NYUSH, and a successful summer 2018 course - Creative Learning Design, he is seeking to spend his year-long sabbatical in residence at NYU Shanghai to be close to current consulting and research projects connected to creative technology startups in Shanghai and Shenzhen, as well as work with Jack Ma's Yungu School in Hangzhou. He has a book under contract which is focused on documenting the creative work process that he has implemented within his Lab the past 5 years at NYU. A potential research project documenting the curriculum development process within Jack Ma's Yungu School is in proposal stage. If approved, that project would take place during the 2019-2020 school year in Hangzhou.