The Kahneman-Treisman Center for Behavioral Science & Public Policy and Princeton's School of Public and International Affairs are pleased to announce the recipients of two fellowships for graduate work in applied behavioral science.  The 2021-22 recipient of the Hamid Biglari *87 Behavioral Science Fellowship is Eli Lucherini.  The recipient of the Anna and G. Mason Morfit ’97 Fellowship for the 2021-22 academic year is Chelsey Clark.

Given the strength of their academic progress thus far and the anticipated trajectory of their future research, Lucherini and Clark were selected by the Center’s fellowship committee from a pool of students nominated by members of the faculty across a number of departments.  Each fellowship provides financial assistance to students in any discipline who are pursuing study in the area of behavioral science and public policy.

Eli Lucherini is a Ph.D. candidate in computer science at Princeton University’s Center for Information Technology Policy. His current work is focused on developing novel methods to characterize the societal impact of online machine learning systems. His new simulation tool, T-RECS, provides a lens on the potential effects arising from the actions and interactions of users and content creators in an environment mediated by a recommender system powered by machine learning. Eli’s secondary line of work analyzes the effects of behavioral science research when applied to technology. His study of “dark patterns” (deceiving design patterns on the web) showed how the behavioral science concept of nudges can be weaponized to lead users to buy more or give away more data.

Chelsey Clark is a third year Ph.D. student in Social Psychology and the Joint Degree Program in Social Policy. Her research interests are in prejudice reduction, institutional signals of social norms, diversity training, reentry and recidivism, and field experimentation. A common thread of her work is how policy change—public and organizational—affects prejudiced behavior and perceptions of local norms. At Princeton, Chelsey works as a Graduate Diversity Fellow and Graduate Fellow for the Scholars Institute Fellows Program. Chelsey earned her B.S. in Psychology from Yale University, and she is a recipient of the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship (NSF-GRFP).