aaraj vij
Co Director, DisinfoLab at DisinfoLab W&M
using policy computer science build better world .
DisinfoLab W&M
https://www.linkedin.com/company/disinfolab-w-m
DisinfoLab is W&M Global Research Institute's first student-run, undergraduate research lab, which uses a multidisciplinary approach to investigate emerging trends in disinformation and develop strategies to counter them.

- Established Technical Analyst team to expand research capacity of lab via data collection and AI
- Coordinated objectives across Disinformation Analysts, Technical Analysts, and Communications teams via weekly meetings
- Reviewed research generated by six analysts pertaining to COVID-19, vaccines, climate change, and politics
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Co Director, DisinfoLab
Fund for Global Health
https://www.linkedin.com/company/fund-for-global-health
- Communicate policy asks pertaining to TB, primary health care, and USAID accountability indicators to legislative staff of House and Senate SFOPS members
- Write memos on House/Senate SFOPS meetings to monitor Congressional stances on global health proposals
- Wrote op-ed urging increased funding for primary health care in humanitarian aid to garner public support
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Advocacy Fellow
William & Mary
https://www.linkedin.com/company/william-and-mary
- Renovated SSRMC website with information on student opportunities, interviews, and relevant training modules
- Built database to host and promote undergraduate research sharing
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Technical Director, Social Science Research Methods Center
William & Mary Global Research Institute
https://www.linkedin.com/company/globalresearchinstitute
- Drafted policy memo on technical strategies to counteract disinformation campaigns before they proliferate
- Coded program to track and categorize hourly bot activity on Twitter (710 data points/day) to study long term social trends and improve early identification of foreign disinformation campaigns
- Processed weekly findings into simple reports shared with the public (@disinfo_lab) to promote media literacy
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Technical Analyst, DisinfoLab
Insight Interfaces LLC
https://www.linkedin.com/company/insight-interfaces-llc
Led team of 12 developers in stabilizing and scaling Mirror | Mirror, a next-gen video conferencing app, including:
- Standardizing local development environment
- Implementing staging environment
- Load testing to optimize Kubernetes cloud configuration for audio and video streaming
- Porting app from Django-based to Jitsi-based conferencing
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Lead Developer, Summer 2020
Democratic Party of Virginia
https://www.linkedin.com/company/democratic-party-of-virginia
Authored three amendments passed into the national party platform, including:
- An explicit acknowledgement that property tax based public school funding exacerbates education inequity
- A pledge to increase federal funding for community-driven desegregation efforts
- A pledge to make trade schools tuition free for all
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National Delegate, 2020 Democratic National Convention
Democratic Party of Virginia
https://www.linkedin.com/company/democratic-party-of-virginia
Authored resolutions on alleviating college accessibility, student debt, zip code inequality, school segregation, and improving civic education that were adopted into the Democratic Party of Virginia's official policy platform.
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State Delegate, 2020 Virginia Convention
Insight Interfaces LLC
https://www.linkedin.com/company/insight-interfaces-llc
Led team of six developers in:
- Resolving UI bugs in application
- Establishing quality assurance process
- Diagnosing meeting stability issues
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Lead Developer, Summer 2019
Bachelor of Science - BS
Computer Science
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William & Mary
https://www.linkedin.com/school/william-and-mary/
Bachelor of Arts - BA
International Relations
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William & Mary
https://www.linkedin.com/school/william-and-mary/
Mechatronics, Robotics, and Automation Engineering
President, 2019 Class Council (2015-19)
- Raised over $30,000 over three years via class events and company partnerships
- Led five person committee in organizing 2019 Graduation Ceremony attended by 5000+, including venue and keynote speaker arrangements

Captain, TJHSST Policy Debate (2018-19)
- Organized research assignments and weekly meetings with varsity squad
- Qualified and broke to elimination rounds at 2019 National Debate Coaches Association Championship, and both the 2017 and 2018 National Catholic Forensic League Grand Nationals
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Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology
https://www.linkedin.com/school/tjhsst/
Tech companies looking to design next-gen search engines tout the potential of natural language processing (NLP), where GPT-3 leads the field. Yet research shows for all this promise, daunting bias challenges remain. DisinfoLab's directors discuss potential ways to mitigate the bias dilemma.
New Designs to Fix the Search Engine Bias Problem
Diplomatic Courier
https://www.diplomaticourier.com/posts/how-new-designs-can-fix-the-search-engines-bias-problem
In an article explaining the ramifications of their report on identity bias in GPT-3 and Google Search, DisinfoLab's directors break down how the sources of training data that make GPT-3 such a complex and accomplished AI also embed bias deep within its DNA.
AI Training Data Contributes to Its Bias
Diplomatic Courier
https://www.diplomaticourier.com/posts/how-ais-training-data-contributes-to-its-bias
Knowledge about how search engines form questions related to social groups is crucial to minimizing widespread bias and therefore the proliferation of mis- and disinformation. To this end, DisinfoLab constructed a parallel study between GPT-3 and Google Search consisting of 3,290 combined text predictions to compare the two programs’ autocomplete predictions. This format offers insights into the extent of GPT-3’s bias compared to a baseline, and it simultaneously allows an interrogation of the biases present in the most widely-used search engine, Google.
Evaluating Identity Bias in GPT-3 and Google Search Autocompletion
Diplomatic Courier
https://www.diplomaticourier.com/posts/how-ai-bias-in-search-engines-contributes-to-disinformation
Invited to join Pi Sigma Alpha, the national political science honor society.
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Pi Sigma Alpha Honor Fraternity
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W&M Dean's List
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Novice Champion, GWU Debate Tournament
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Novice Champion, Penn Debate Tournament
Having demonstrated competitive success at the national level, I qualified for and broke at the prestigious 2019 National Debate Coaches Association Championship.
National Debate Coaches Association
Cleared at National Debate Coaches Association Championship
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National Merit Finalist
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Varsity Champion & Top Speaker, Pennsbury Debate Tournament
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Eagle Scout
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Lemelson-MIT InvenTeam Finalist
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National German Exam Gold Award
TJHSST Humanities Department
Sons of the American Revolution History Award
Virginia Future Problem Solving
International Qualifier, Future Problem Solving
VHSL 5A
Virginia State Champion, Policy Debate
W&M reserves this designation to less than 10% of undergraduate students: "the most academically distinguished undergraduates," who "demonstrate a concern of community, intellectual depth, curiosity, and devotion to learning for learning's sake."
College of William & Mary
Monroe Scholar
AP Environmental Science
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AP Macroeconomics
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AP Microeconomics
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AP US Government
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Automation & Robotics
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Algorithms
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Business Statistics
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Computer Organization
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Data Structures
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Discrete Structures of CS
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Global History since 1500
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Intermediate Microeconomics Theory
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Intro International Politics
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Intro to Global Health
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Linear Algebra
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Modern Chinese History
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Representing Refugees
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Software Development
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AP United States History
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Investigated the relative influence of military, economic, and domestic issues on popular and electoral vote shares abroad through W&M's Political Psychology and International Relations lab.
Evaluating the Influence of Foreign Policy on National Elections
Science and Technology
Children's Science Center
https://www.linkedin.com/company/children%27s-science-center
Strengthened community impact of the YAB by implementing practice of annual, year-long service projects for all members. Grew representation on the YAB from two schools to nine, spanning Loudon and Fairfax County Public Schools. Hosted Fall 2017 fundraising Founder's Society Event, and served as representative on Center's overarching Board of Directors. Previously, worked closely with Children's Science Center on incorporating robotics into The Lab experience.
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Chair, Youth Advisory Board (YAB)
Civil Rights and Social Action
Learning Fun School
Prepare and teach weekly lessons for 60+ students in 1st-8th grade, covering topics including: public speaking, debate, current events, social change, community service, and experimental design.
Real World Skills Instructor
Education
Fairfax County Public Schools
https://www.linkedin.com/company/fairfax-county-public-schools
Prepare and teach weekly lessons for team of 30 middle school students. Coach and judge at virtual tournaments hosted by New York Debate League and National Capitol Debate League.
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Rachel Carson MS Debate Instructor
https://www.linkedin.com/in/jaswack
Washington DC-Baltimore Area
Jeremy Swack
Sophomore Majoring in Computer Science and Data Science at William & Mary
https://www.linkedin.com/in/siona-prasad-5b351019a
Washington DC-Baltimore Area
Siona Prasad
Computer Science at Harvard
https://www.linkedin.com/in/reena-medavarapu
Chicago, IL
Reena Medavarapu
Associate at Boston Consulting Group (BCG)
https://www.linkedin.com/in/abigail-kim-000
Washington DC-Baltimore Area
Abigail Kim
CS & Cog Sci @ Wellesley College
https://www.linkedin.com/in/erick-tian
Washington DC-Baltimore Area
Erick Tian
CS @ UVA
https://www.linkedin.com/in/shannon-xiao-b81891182
Washington DC-Baltimore Area
Shannon Xiao
SWE Intern at Facebook | Stanford SymSys/CS
https://www.linkedin.com/in/ccpritz
Washington DC-Baltimore Area
Charles Pritz
Policy Fellow at Rock the Vote | Monroe Scholar at William & Mary
https://www.linkedin.com/in/erin-horrigan-82074b228
Washington DC-Baltimore Area
Erin Horrigan
Undergraduate Research Assistant
https://www.linkedin.com/in/sj-kachru
Reston, VA
SJ (Shehjar) Kachru
Computer Science @ UMich
https://www.linkedin.com/in/mli19
Washington DC-Baltimore Area
Michelle Li
Incoming Summer Analyst at Goldman Sachs | GWI Scholar
https://www.linkedin.com/in/megan-rose-hogan
Washington, DC
Megan Hogan
Research Analyst at Peterson Institute for International Economics | Founder and Co-Director at DisinfoLab
https://www.linkedin.com/in/lingelizabeth
Boston, MA
Elizabeth Ling
CS @ Harvard
https://www.linkedin.com/in/tjplant
Indianapolis, IN
Tom Plant
Research Fellow, The Project on International Peace and Security at William & Mary
https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexander-talamonti-aa93331bb
McLean, VA
Alexander Talamonti
Entrepreneur at NYU Stern | TJHSST '21
https://www.linkedin.com/in/jane-siwek-146258201
Alexandria, VA
Jane Siwek
Student at William & Mary
https://www.linkedin.com/in/catherine-cable-510743203
Greater Pittsburgh Region
Catherine Cable
Student Researcher and Co-Teacher
https://www.linkedin.com/in/jasonjche
Washington DC-Baltimore Area
Jason He
Stats + Commerce @ UVA
https://www.linkedin.com/in/asha-silva-6a689a1a0
Williamsburg, VA
Asha Silva
Economic and Valuation Services Intern at KPMG
https://www.linkedin.com/in/connie-zhang-a630aa195
Washington DC-Baltimore Area
Connie Zhang
Cyber Security Intern at MITRE
https://www.linkedin.com/in/derek-ni
Washington DC-Baltimore Area
Derek Ni
Engineering @ Fizz
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A recent upgrade to OpenAI's GPT-3 system produced “concerning increases in bias about gender and sexuality,” DisinfoLab W&M's Tom Plant, Aaraj Vij…
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ICYMI: we relaunched our think tank with a new look and mandate—helping the future arrive well. Check it out: https://w2050.orgRead our Executive…
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Advancements in AI may revolutionize the way we search the web, with search engines taking on the role of an "expert," aggregating information from a…
Youth Advisory Board
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