University of Michigan School of Information PhD candidate Allegra G. Fonda-Bonardi has earned a prestigious Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement Grant (DDRIG) from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to support the completion of her dissertation research. 

Her project, “Algorithms and Accounting in AI and Machine Learning” studies the impact of AI and machine learning on the government’s ability to measure the environmental and social effects of business activities, and how these technologies may shape or distort efforts to hold companies accountable.

Fonda-Bonardi, a sixth-year student in UMSI’s PhD program, enjoys researching how AI and machine learning tools are used to measure complex concepts and phenomena like accountability, environmental responsibility, fairness and institutional trust. She joined UMSI in 2019 and holds a master’s in city planning from  the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).

Her background in city planning inspires her current research interests. 

“My masters thesis at MIT examined persistent, unbuilt sites in urban space, and focused on an abandoned solid waste treatment site in Somerville, MA that was slated to be converted into an arts space and community garden but has been stalled for more than a decade,” she says. “The work I am doing currently with this NSF grant is directly informed by my experiences as a sociotechnical-focused computing scholar and by my training as an urban planner.” 

Fonda-Bonardi is co-advised by UMSI professors Mark Ackerman and Maggie Levenstein. At UMSI, Fonda-Bonardi values the interdisciplinary perspectives and methods available for doing research. 

“The range of points of view on research methods at UMSI contributes immeasurably to my work as a scholar, and enables me to appreciate other approaches beyond what I focus on,” she says. “My mentors and my fellow grad student colleagues are equally, and inspiringly, interdisciplinary. The scholarly community of graduate students at UMSI is especially generous, collegial, and thrives collectively through mutual support.” 

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Learn more about PhD candidate Allegra Fonda-Bonardi by visiting her UMSI profile. 

Learn more about UMSI’s PhD in Information program!