Kathryn Yurechko
Kathryn Yurechko, from Havre de Grace, Maryland, graduated from Washington and Lee University in 2024 with a B.S. in Computer Science, Philosophy, and Poverty and Human Capability Studies. While interning at Carnegie Mellon University, Kathryn researched “algospeak” on TikTok. She co-first authored a publication in Sage Journals’ Social Media + Society Journal that provided the first academic definition of “algospeak” and has been cited by Amnesty International, MSN, Vox, and other outlets. With the Social Futures Lab at the University of Washington, she conducted experiments comparing strategies for social media users to create personalized content filters, with the results published in CHI, the world’s top human-computer interaction conference. She then helped design a human-in-the-loop prompt optimization workflow, implemented into a system for YouTube content creators to create and maintain personal classifiers for managing their comments. As a Marshall Scholar, Kathryn obtained an MSc in Social Science of the Internet at the University of Oxford, graduating with distinction. For her dissertation, she interviewed social media employees and surveyed users to examine misalignments between employees’ ideals for personal content moderation and users’ realities. She also held a leadership role in the Oxford AI Society, creating the group’s first AI mindfulness challenge. For her second UK year, Kathryn is pursuing an MSc in Social Research Methods with Data Science at University College London.