Ege Demirci

I am an incoming PhD student in Computer Science at the University of California, Santa Barbara. I will be conducting research in the DYNAMO Lab under the supervision of Dr. Ambuj Singh, where I will focus on social networks and machine learning on graphs.

I graduated as valedictorian in June 2024 from Sabanci University with a B.Sc. in Computer Science and Engineering. For three years, I worked as a research assistant at VRL Lab, where we investigated human behaviors and societal patterns by integrating both online and offline data, under the supervision of Dr. Onur Varol.

During my time at Sabanci University, my research primarily focused on exploring how actors execute misinformation and propaganda campaigns to promote ideas in the politically charged environment of the 2023 Turkish elections on social media, using machine learning and network science techniques. In my final year, I started to work on my graduation project centered on habit formation, employing causal inference and machine learning techniques to investigate factors influencing the establishment of consistent exercise habits.

research interests

My research interests can be summarized with few keywords:

• Network Science: Investigating the structure and dynamics of social networks, and how they influence individual and collective behavior. Studying the formation, evolution, and impact of social networks on various aspects of society.
• Machine Learning on Graphs: Developing and applying machine learning techniques to graph-structured data to gain insights into networked systems.
• Machine Learning for Social Good: Applying machine learning methods to address social issues and improve public well-being.
• Causal Inference: Evaluating the effectiveness of interventions and understanding causality in complex systems, particularly in the context of digital media and social networks.