António Câmara, a third-year Ph.D. student, has been awarded a graduate research fellowship through the National Science Foundation (NSF). The NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP) recognizes and supports outstanding graduate students who have demonstrated the potential to be high-achieving scientists and engineers, early in their careers.
The program aims to ensure the quality, vitality, and diversity of the scientific and engineering workforce of the United States and broaden participation and diverse talents in STEM. The five-year fellowship provides three years of financial support, including an annual stipend of $37,000 and a $16,000 Cost of Education to the graduate degree-granting institution.
António’s proposal – titled “Does Social Media Platform Design Facilitate Collective Action?” – brings together the topics of social media, political representation, and political methodology.
He said: “My research project seeks to unify disparate approaches by understanding how the internet and social media services affect political representation in the United States and asking how platform governance and affordances differentially affect information environments for specific groups of users, and does that information help to mobilize or disengage those groups?
“My upbringing exposed me to diverse political environments. Born in rural Scotland, I soon relocated to Portugal, my family’s homeland and a nascent democracy, before transitioning from Oklahoma to New York City. One constant in my childhood was the internet, which provided me with unprecedented access to information and sparked my interest in politics and government.
“However, I felt a growing disconnect between myself and my governments, despite improvements in interactive communications technologies. Furthermore, I found that many around me became more entrenched in their views and disinterested in politics despite our shared access to diverse information online. These events and observations sparked my growing curiosity about how technological changes during my youth shaped information environments and how these new information environments came to influence political representation, accountability, and participation.
“I’m therefore excited to explore this topic as part of my fellowship and expand my research into tangential areas. I also wanted to mention my advisors, Gary King and James Snyder, for their incredible support as well as Jeannette Miller at the Fellowship Center and my undergraduate advisors for their huge help.”