news
2026
May 2026
Began as a Graduate Editorial Fellow at the Catalyst: Feminism, Theory, Technoscience journal!
I reached out to one of the Co-Editors, Dr. Irina Aristarkhova, at Catalyst asking to get involved as a way to learn about the inner workings of an academic journal, and to gain editorial experience—it just so happens to be that I get to do this from one of my favorite journals that showcases really cool intersectional feminist STS work. Thank you to Dr. Aristarkhova for welcoming me into the team and granting me the opportunity to get involved.
*This was a good learning experience for me that sometimes to get the experience you want, you just have to ask. The worst someone can say is, “Not at this time.”
March 2026
An Open Panel I proposed was accepted at 4S Toronto 2026!
I’m extremely excited to share that my open panel “Entangled Reproductive Futures: Labor, Technology, and Multiplicity” has been accepted for the 2026 4S Conference in Toronto. This will be my first time organizing and chairing a panel, and am happy to meet and discuss with other scholars grappling with similar questions as my research and dissertation work.
Did not receive a fellowship I was nominated and applied for!
I found out this month that I did not receive the Rackham Predoctoral Fellowship! While I’m really disappointed, I’m grateful to have been nominated by my department for the award, and to have had the opportunity to get practice succinctly articulating my research in the application materials. I’m sharing this news to help normalize rejection that’s so common in academia.
February 2026
I gave birth to my son, Laith!
My husband and I welcomed our son, Laith Karizat-Toy, into the world on February 2nd, 2026 at 5pm. He arrived safe and sound 5 weeks earlier than expected. We’re grateful to the medical team at Michigan Medicine for caring for us and Laith, as well as to the Graduate Student Union (GEO) for fighting for healthcare benefits that made this possible. I’m also grateful to my advisor and dissertation committee for their flexibility and support during this time.
2025
November 2025
Received a Grant from the Arts Initiative at the University of Michigan to support my project “Zine as Method, IVF as Matter”!
I am pleased to share that I have received a grant from the Arts Initiative at the University of Michigan for my Summer 2026 project, Zine as Method, IVF as Matter: Anticipating Reproductive Futurity. I am grateful to the Arts Initiative for valuing my work and offering their support to make it possible.
This project takes up zine-making as both method and medium to critically engage the lived experiences of individuals navigating IVF. While my dissertation investigates the anticipatory labor demanded by “hope technologies” like IVF, the zine offers an alternative form of knowledge production foregrounding participants’ material, physical, and affective experiences. Zines emerge from a history of feminist and activist movements that resist the polished authority of traditional academic publishing. They offer a DIY-method for centering fragmented, relational, and embodied perspectives. By assembling images, narratives, and critical reflections into a printed and digital publication, this project extends my academic research into a more accessible form for the general public, taking zine-making as a critical, feminist method for theorizing reproductive labor, technology, and futurity.
Presented work at CSCW 2025 in Bergen, Norway
I had the privilege of getting to present our paper, Laboring Towards Sociotechnical Reproductive Privacy in a Post-Roe United States: Identities, Technologies, and Actors Implicated in Reproductive Privacy, at the CSCW 2025 Conference hosted in Bergen, Norway. Thanks to my collaborators, Dr. Nora McDonald and Dr. Nazanin Andalibi for entrusting me with sharing out work at the conference.
April 2025
Received The Gutsy Broad Fellowship!
I am delighted to share that I have been selected as the Gutsy Broad Fellow by the Center for the Education of Women+, “The Gutsy Broad Fund provides financial support to help remove barriers for women and their allies in the advocacy and social change sphere. The fund was established by a donor who, along with her mother, is an activist and fierce advocate for women’s rights. The highest compliment one could receive from the sponsor’s mother was to be called a “gutsy broad.” This fund is designed to support “gutsy broads” and their allies in making a positive impact in the world.”
Thank you so much to CEW+ for supporting me and my dissertation work through The Gutsy Broad fund!
Did not get a grant I applied for!
I applied for a grant back in March to help fund my dissertation research—the Boyd Williams Dissertation Grant for Research on Women and Work. I am really bummed about not receiving a grant, but I also know that this is part of the process of academia. I’ll try again next year!
Now, I’ll just keep my fingers crossed my two other pending grant applications are good news because I’d really love being able to fund my dissertation through these grants, and not have to scale anything back.
March 2025
2 Papers Accepted to CSCW 2025!
Excited to share that I have had two papers accepted to CSCW 2025! The first is a paper co-authored with Nora McDonald and Nazanin Andalibi, titled Laboring Towards Sociotechnical Reproductive Privacy in a Post-Roe United States: Identities, Technologies, and Actors Implicated in Reproductive Privacy.
The second is a paper culminating from my pre-candidacy project, co-authored with Nazanin Andalibi, titled Technocultures of Consent: Understandings and Practices of Consent Among U.S. Arab/SWANA Women and Non-Binary People Who Use Dating Apps.
Paper Histories: Both papers underwent one round of major revisions before acceptance
2024
December 2024
Changed my Ph.D. Advisor!
I initiated an advisor switch, which I share here to challenge the stigma surrounding advisor changes that are quite common in academia.
I am excited to continue the remainder of my Ph.D. advised by Dr. Patricia Garcia.
November 2024
Attended CSCW 2024
I attended the ACM CSCW 2024 conference in Costa Rica, where I gave a talk for my paper Patent Applications as Glimpses into the Sociotechnical Imaginary: Ethical Speculation on the Imagined Futures of Emotion AI for Mental Health Monitoring and Detection. I also attended a workshop for Caring for Reproductive Justice: Design in Response to Adversity.
Thank you to the University of Michigan School of Information for the travel grant allowing me to afford my trip.
2 Papers Accepted to CSCW 2024
My paper Patent Applications as Glimpses into the Sociotechnical Imaginary: Ethical Speculation on the Imagined Futures of Emotion AI for Mental Health Monitoring and Detection with Alexandra H. Vinson, Shobita Parthasarathy, and Nazanin Andalibi was accepted at CSCW 2024.
Another paper I was a co-author on, Emotion AI Use in U.S. Mental Health Care: Potentially Unjust and Techno-Solutionist, with Kat Roemmich, Shanley Corvite, Cassidy Pyle, and Nazanin Andalibi was also accepted to CSCW 2024.
September 2024
Became an affiliate researcher with the Center for Ethics, Society, and Computing.
I am now an affiliate researcher with the Center for Ethics, Society, and Computing at the University of Michigan.
August 2024
Became a Ph.D. Candidate!
I passed my Field Prelim Written and Oral exam. For my 3rd Ph.D. Milestone, I wrote and defended my Field Prelim paper on Anticipating One’s Reproductive Future(s): Sociotechnical Anticipation Work by Reproductive Citizens. As part of this project, I wrote a critical literature review and proposed a research project. Drawing from the fields of STS and Feminist Technoscience, Social Computing/HCI, and Reproductive Justice, my project explored the relationship between anticipation and technology for ensuring desirable reproductive health futures.
Thank you to my committee members, Dr. Nazanin Andalibi, Dr. Silvia Lindtner, and Dr. Lisa Harris.
April 2024
Accepted into the 2024 Digital IDEAS Summer Institute!
I have been accepted to attend the Digital IDEAS Summer Institute: Digital X Climate hosted by the Digital Studies Institute at UM-LSA where I will attend keynote lectures, and participate in panel discussions, workshops, and group discussions about the relationship between digital culture and climate, broadly defined.
My participation has been funded by the Mellon Foundation-sponsored DISCO Network who have so generously offered me a $1500 scholarship to attend.
March 2024
Passed my Pre-Candidacy Defense!
I successfully defended my pre-candidacy paper, U.S. Arab/SWANA Diaspora’s Technocultures of Consent: The Case of Online Dating Apps, during an oral defense on March 20th. Thank you to my committee members, Dr. Nazanin Andalibi, Dr. Sarita Schoenebeck, and Dr. Apryl Williams for their support, feedback and helpful questions!
February 2024
Gave a talk at the University of Michigan!
I gave a talk to Dr. Oliver Haimson’s class (SI 315: Interpersonal and Psychological Implications of Social Media) at the University of Michigan about Algorithms, Identity and TikTok. I loved hearing students’ questions regarding the paper and research as a process! I had lots of fun and enjoyed seeing how much everyone engaged with the work.
2023
April 2023
Gave a talk at the University of Washington!
I gave a talk to Dr. Tanu Mitra’s class (INSC 598 C: Social Computing) at the University of Washington about Algorithms, Identity and TikTok. Thank you so much to Dr. Mitra for the invitation, and to your classmates for their wonderful and thought-provoking questions.
Pre-Candidacy Proposal Approved!
I completed my first PhD Milestone, the Pre-Candidacy Proposal for my upcoming Pre-Candidacy Project titled “U.S. Arab/SWANA Diaspora’s Technocultures of Consent: The Case of Online Dating Apps“. This proposal is essentially a grant proposal, that explains to an audience “why the research questions are significant and worthy of study, what hypotheses are going to be tested, what methods are going to be used, and, for empirical projects, which analyses will be conducted.” It was approved by my advisor, Dr. Nazanin Andalibi, on April 19th, 2022.
2022
November 2022
Paper Accepted at CSCW 2023
My paper I like to See the Ups and Downs of My Own Journey’: Motivations for and Impacts of Returning to Past Content About Weight Related Journeys on Social Media” with Nazanin Andalibi was accepted at CSCW 2023.
Paper History: rejected once, major revisions before acceptance
August 2022
Married my best friend, Kaan Toy!
On August 13th at the Muddy Acres Flower Farm, I married my best friend, Kaan Toy, in an intimate ceremony with our immediate families. It’s extremely exciting to start this next chapter with Kaan as we begin our lives together!
February 2022
Accepted into Doctoral Program at the University of Michigan School of Information as a UMSI Merit Scholar
I am thrilled beyond belief to share that I have accepted my offer to the PhD in Information program at the University of Michigan School of Information and will begin this Fall semester! I am grateful to have been selected as a UMSI Merit Scholar, and to be advised by Dr. Nazanin Andalibi.
2021
October 2021
Honorable Mention Award for Best Paper for CSCW 2021
I am excited to share that my paper received an Honorable Mention Award for Best Paper at the ACM CSCW 2021 conference, Algorithmic Folk Theories and Identity: How TikTok Users Co-Produce Knowledge of Identity and Engage in Algorithmic Resistance.
May 2021
Paper Accepted at CSCW 2021
My paper Algorithmic Folk Theories and Identity: How TikTok Users Co-Produce Knowledge of Identity and Engage in Algorithmic Resistance with Daniel Delmonaco, Motahhare Eslami and Nazanin Andalibi was accepted at CSCW 2021.
Paper History: major revisions before acceptance
Graduated from UMSI’s MHI Program
I graduated with a Master of Health Informatics from the University of Michigan School of Information and School of Public Health with a concentration in data analytics and UX research. I was a recipient of the Margaret Mann Award. I also graduated with a Master of Urban and Regional Planning from the A. Alfred Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning.
2020
August 2020
Completed REMS Fellowship
I completed the REMS Fellowship at the University of Michigan School of Information. As a REMS Fellow, I worked with Dr. Nazanin Andalibi and UMSI PhD Student Daniel Delmonaco on a project exploring the social media platform TikTok, algorithms and identity.