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Nick Obradovich is Senior Research Scientist and Principal Investigator at the Max Planck Institute for Human Development in the Center for Humans and Machines. He previously worked as a research scientist at the MIT Media Lab. He holds a PhD from the University of California, San Diego and completed his postdoctoral training at Harvard University’s Kennedy School. He is the Human-Environmental Systems Fellow at Scripps Institution of Oceanography and is a research affiliate at MIT’s Environmental Solutions Initiative. Nick lives in Oregon, USA.
Nick’s research combines his interests in artificial intelligence, climate change, and human behavior with his affinity for data science and computational methods. His work regularly appears in top academic journals and in major media outlets.
One line of Nick’s research explores the intersection of humans and machines. He has investigated the effects that generative algorithms might have on emotions — good and bad — and has examined easing the study of algorithmic output [2]. He has studied algorithmic bias [2], the detection of manipulated media, and the ways algorithms can enable the study of culture. And he has reviewed the science of machine behavior.
Nick’s climate research explores the human impacts of warming. He has uncovered climatic effects on mental health, mobility, sentiment [2][3], physical activity, and sleep [2] as well as daily governance, democratic turnover, and civil conflict. He has also studied climate-related political behaviors, attitudes, and adaptation of expectations as well as the use of social media data to assess disaster damage and flood incidence.