Active Collaborations

Reparative AI, Digital Humanities Collaboratory 

This is an interdisciplinary collaboration with faculty and graduate students from the University of Michigan Department of Media and Communications, Architecture, Psychology, English Language & Literature, and Sociology. We consider how artificial intelligence can be designed and implemented with a framework of repair in mind. Meaning, how can we both prevent and address situations when intelligence technologies negatively impact communities and populations? 

• I presented on this research as part of a 'fireside chat' panel at the 2025 Digital Studies Institute IDEAS Summer Institute.

Collaborators: Germaine Halegoua (Principal Investigator), Apryl Williams, Jasmine Banks, Matthew Bui, Tung Hui-Hui.

The Bodies, Identities, Intimacies, and Technologies Lab

The Bodies, Identities, Intimacies, and Technologies (BIIT) Lab critically explores identities such as race, gender, and sexuality; intimacies with others and our devices; technologies including wearable devices, social media, AI, and dating apps; bodies and embodiment; and intersections therein.  

Through this lab, I have collaborated on several research projects with Psychology and Media & Communications scholars to conduct social experiment studies, consult on user experience research for tech companies, and analyze interview data collected on dating app users. 

• We are currently working on the study Love Unseen: Measuring Young Adults' Self-Perceptions and Attitudes Regarding Desirability in Dating Conexts, a project led by Media & Communications doctoral student Mel Monier, and funded by the 2025 NCID Anti-Racism Grant. 

• We are set to present our research on dating app design for marginalized communities at the 59th Hawaii International Conference of System Sciences.

Collaborators: Apryl Williams (Principal Investigator), Kyla Brathwaite, Mel Monier, Jasmine Banks, Janae Sayler, Gabe Paredes

Gaps and Opportunities in the New Technologies of Work

We aim to consider how might new technologies of work (platform technologies, video communications, artificial intelligence, etc.) displace people at work, destabilize educational opportunities, and potentially harm historically disenfranchised communities in the United States. 

As workplaces continue to prioritize the implementation of digital technologies such as artificial intelligence, we will focus on how the implementation of digital technologies shape how people age, seek retirement, and navigate today's employment uncertainties. 

Collaborators: Gail Wallace (Principal Investigator), Rodney Coates, Christy Erving

Past Projects

Black Creatives in the Platform Economy 

As digital technologies increasingly become an important tool for entrepreneurs to access a customer base and gain capital, I am interested in the way that the demands of maintaining an online presence shape the performance of labor amongst Black crafters. Inspired by bell hooks' perspective of Visual Politics, which explains how race, class, and gender shape one's consumption and production of art, I designed a study between 2023 - 2025 that focused on the individual perspectives of Black creatives who sell art on platforms like Shopify, Etsy, and Instagram. My research uncovers how the pressure to maintain visibility and profitability requires a performance that often goes underrecognized and unpaid. Still, Black creatives find joy and community in their work as they share their art with the world. See project overview here. 

• I presented results at the NCID Anti-Racism Grant Graduate Research Showcase and the Black Graduate Student Research Symposium in 2024. 

• My paper based on this work, Crafting Our Own Narratives is under review at a peer-reviewed journal. 

More than an Appetite for Convenience?: The use of grocery delivery services in Detroit

Amidst the "new normal" of the pandemic, no-contact grocery services such as grocery delivery became more popular in the United States. Moreover, federal and state resources were set aside to accelerate the use of grocery delivery among low-income families, primarily those who access SNAP-EBT. To study the relationship between grocery delivery use and difficulties getting to the store or affording groceries, I designed and fielded a survey through the Detroit Metro Area Communities Study, a representative sample of the City of Detroit. Results of the study suggest that those who have higher transportation insecurity were more likely to use grocery delivery services, while many residents with disabilities or in post-medical operation recovery benefited greatly from the services. See full results here.

• I presented results from this study at the 2023 Food Policy Summit at Marygrove College in Detroit, Michigan. 

• I co-published a policy report on study findings at the Ford School Center for Racial Justice.

Collaborators: Love Lundy