Excited to share that my thesis have been selected to be supported by the Gallatin thesis support fund with $1,500 to conduct my thesis on how extremist speech may influence people’s perception. Grateful to Madalina and Gallatin for their support 😀
News & Blog
Accepted to Summer Institute of Computational Social Science (SICSS) 2023!
Thrilled to announce my acceptance to the 2023 Summer Institute of Computational Social Science (SICSS) at NDSU! Looking forward to immersing myself in this cutting-edge program in June. I am sure that SICSS will provide an incredible platform for developing skills and collaboration. Grateful for this opportunity!
Awarded the NYU Gallatin Dean’s Award for Summer Research!
So delighted to share that I have been awarded the Dean’s Award for Summer Research at Gallatin with $2,500! The research will be on the topic of how extremist speech potential bias people’s norm perception and the consequences. I’m also planning to find a lab for visiting during the summer. So excited and grateful to everyone’s support!
Being selected as a recipient of the Horn Family Fund for Environmental Research!
Excited to share that I’ve been selected as a recipient of the Horn Family Fund for Environmental Research, securing $1,500 to conduct my project on the perception of climate change norms within social networks. I am immensely grateful to Madalina and Gallatin for their support. This funding will enable me to delve into the fascinating realm of how individuals perceive climate change amidst the vast sea of dispersed information. Thrilled to embark on this research journey!
A little about me… beyond academics
Hi! My name is Ke Fang 方可 (first and last names are in reverse order in Chinese). I also go by Kay since many people may be confused about pronouncing “Ke” (Kuh, third-tone in Chinese). This is my first blog so I’m just going to introduce myself a bit and please not that all opinions expressed here are my own, and I don’t represent anyone else. I am from Lanzhou, the capital of Gansu province, located in northwest China. It’s neither near Beijing nor Shanghai, which most people would use as a coordinate in their mind to visualize the Chinese map. However, if you draw an outer circle around China, Lanzhou is, interestingly, the center of the geometry. I personally think Lanzhou is mostly famous for beef noodles, which uses hand-pulled noodles (an amazing technique!) with clear-broth made from beef bones. And I’m constantly longing for it at breakfast and lunch, so please be in touch if you know any good beef noodle restaurants in NYC 😉
(A map of Lanzhou from Wikipedia)
I received my Bachelor of Management in my hometown at Lanzhou University. I majored in accounting but soon fled and developed my interest in organizational psychology after meeting serveral amazing professors including Dr. Jie Ma and Dr. Yanxia Wang. I love how psychology is so creative and psychologists are constantly making new discoveries about ourselves. Thus, I ended up conducting several projects related to organizational psychology and did my thesis as a combination of business with psychology. Leaving my hometown where I was born and raised for 21 years, I am now in New York City. I’m currently pursuing my self-designed interdisciplinary master’s degree at NYU Gallatin School of Individualized Study, and my primary advisor is Dr. Madalina Vlasceanu at the Psychology Department. I designed my program to understand the polarization and synchronization of group-level memories, emotions, and attitudes online that lead to collective action by combining methods from psychology, neuroscience, and sociology. When not doing research, I’m a big coffee lover. I have a whole set of coffee equipment at home, but unfortunately, I cannot bring them with me to the US. I like pour-over coffee, made by pouring hot water onto ground coffee beans. I typically enjoy light-roasted coffee with a fruity flavor (this wine-like fancy term basically means it’s sourer and less bitter). Apart from coffee, I enjoy visiting museums, which NYC is a perfect place for. I also like to explore NYC on foot and draw watercolor a bit. Before the pandemic, I also traveled a lot. I’ve been to India, Thailand, Vietnam, Combodia, Italy, Spain, France and UK (where I also spent one year during my high school) and, of course US. It’s always so fun to explore different cuture and meeting various people. 
(A picture of pour-over coffee from Wikipedia)