Ananya Sen(opens in new window), assistant professor of information technology and management at Carnegie Mellon University’s Heinz College of Information Systems and Public Policy(opens in new window), has been named to the 2024 class of Andrew Carnegie Fellows(opens in new window) by Carnegie Corporation of New York(opens in new window). 

Sen, one of 28 distinguished scholars selected from more than 360 nominations for this honor, will receive up to $200,000 for research that seeks to understand how and why society has become so polarized as well as ways to strengthen the forces of cohesion to fortify democracy.

“Carnegie Corporation of New York has a rich history of promoting knowledge and understanding,” said Sen. “I am grateful for the opportunity to pursue research that explores political polarization in the U.S. and its impact on society.”

Carnegie Corporation of New York established the Andrew Carnegie Fellows Program in 2015 to support research in the humanities and social sciences. Following a one-year pause, the program relaunched with the Class of 2024 under the exclusive theme of political polarization in the United States. 

“The foundation’s support of these fascinating projects is a considered effort to mine scholarship for insights into the underlying causes of the political polarization that is damaging our democracy,” said Louise Richardson DBE, president of Carnegie Corporation of New York. “We also hope to gain insights into the means by which collectively we can mitigate the negative effects of this polarization on our society.”

In this work, Sen will analyze the role of automation technologies within the online news ecosystem in fueling political polarization, focusing on misinformation and echo chambers. He proposes field experiments focusing on combating the monetization of misinformation by analyzing and informing companies about their advertising practices and exploring the effects of algorithmic recommendations on echo chambers among news readers. He aims to suggest steps to limit online misinformation financing and algorithmic solutions to ensure individuals are exposed to diverse political opinions.

An assistant professor at Heinz College since 2019, Sen’s research centers around platforms and digitization with a focus on the media. Sen uses a variety of empirical techniques to analyze data from field experiments as well as observational data to gain insight into research questions focused on topics associated with technology and society. Prior to joining Carnegie Mellon, Sen was a post-doctoral associate at MIT’s Sloan School of Management. He received a Ph.D. in economics from Toulouse School of Economics.