Schwind Recognized with Humanities and STEM Research Award
John Martinson Honors College senior Katie Schwind is passionate about the beauty industry and social media influencers – passionate, that is, about making sure viewers and users know what they’re really seeing and why they’re seeing it. The mass media communications major was recently awarded the Purdue Undergraduate Award for Humanities and STEM Research for her research into the biases built into the technology behind social media filters.
The award is given annually to a Purdue undergraduate student on the West Lafayette campus whose research best exemplifies the potential in combining the humanities and STEM in a single project. The award is sponsored by the Purdue library.
“Katie’s Honors College project to investigate bias and stigma caused by social media filters and leading to discrimination is a compelling and timely example of how and when science, technology, and humanities come together to make for better research,” said Beth McNeil, Dean of Libraries and School of Information Studies. “I am delighted with Katie’s project and congratulate her for being selected from a very competitive group of submissions. She truly embodies the qualities of creativity, passion, and generosity with which Mr. Stephen Pater (B.S. ’65, M.S. ‘66) established this award to encourage and inspire undergraduate students to pursue blended research in humanities and STEM fields."
All JMHC students complete a research project, which gave Schwind the opportunity to continue an investigation that began with considering misleading advertisements in the beauty industry during a first-year English class. After exploring social media filters and how they misinform consumers for a class on Tech Justice her junior year, she sought out Professor Lindsay Weinberg to further her research into how these filters are shaped by and in turn help to shape societal norms.
Through her research, Schwind learned that social media filters help to create unjust biases. Social media companies know about the biases in their filters but don’t correct the inaccuracies. With Professor Weinberg’s mentorship, Schwind created a website to inform the public about the biases and present possible solutions.
Schwind sees education as the first step in creating change in the social media industry.
“It’s something that consumers don’t know, so our biggest goal is to bring awareness to consumers about what’s happening behind the filters and give them a choice to stand up and get things changed,” Schwind said.
The research process became a key aspect of Schwind’s education.
“The general takeaway in doing research is to not take things at face value and really look into what’s behind things,” she said. “I was able to do some really meaningful research and learn a lot and be able to share it with a lot of individuals. The standard that the honors college sets of going the extra mile has really helped me throughout my career at Purdue.”
After graduation, Schwind will take a position with Techtronic Industries as a sales and marketing representative and hopes to move into the marketing division after learning more about the company. She plans to put what she’s learned about how to make social media more equitable into her marketing work.
Writer: Rachel Henry rachelrhenry@gmail.com