Work With Me

I'm so glad you're interested in working together! My students and I work together as part of the Socially Responsible Tech Lab. Our work is interdisciplinary, so we welcome people from a variety of disciplinary backgrounds to reach out and join us.

The Socially Responsible Tech Lab

Our vision is to make responsibility a central part of computing. We believe that each person, each project, and each decision can contribute towards positive social change.

In the Socially Responsible Tech Lab, we study and shape tech though research, design, and community building. We take a human-centered approach to computer science because we believe that technology should be designed, developed, and deployed in ways that reduce exploitation and benefit humanity. We apply an interdisciplinary mixed-methods approach to studying the social impacts of current computing technology and to designing socially responsible computing technology. Some of the methods we use are interviews, surveys, algorithmic audits, systematic literature analysis, design-based research, usability experiments, etc.

Computers are changing the world. We explore how computers can support socially responsible change.

If you’re interested in working on problems like responsible design and harm reduction in computing, you’re in the right place!

Research Assistant Selection Criteria

A Research Assistant (RA) is an essential member of the Socially Responsible Tech Lab. Research assistants are involved in one or more of the following activities: research, technical support, and outreach efforts (for the lab, school, university, and community). RAs are selected on the basis of the following criteria:

  1. potential for success in research

  2. academic achievement or capabilities

  3. interpersonal skills, and

  4. ability to serve as a positive role model to peers and other students.

RA onboarding happens at the beginning of each semester. The Socially Responsible Tech Lab meets on Wednesdays (typically in the afternoon). All RAs are required to be at weekly meetings.

Next Steps

Below is some guidance on how to get in touch based on your current education level (i.e., PhD, Master’s, or Undergraduate).

While I do my best to stay on top of my email, please know I cannot respond to everyone who reaches out.

PhD Students

If you are a prospective PhD student, and you're interested in working with me, I'd be happy to chat. Send me an email that includes information about 1) what interests you about my research (be specific), 2) what excites you about research (aka what motivates your interest in a PhD), and 3) what are a few research publications that you find particularly interesting and why (extra helpful to know about recent publications you find interesting beyond/in addition to my prior work). Please add the following to the beginning of the email subject line (including the square brackets): [New PHD Student Inquiry].

Make sure to check out the UGA School of Computing's website for information about requirements (and please mention me in your application materials). Applications are submitted to the UGA Graduate School.

If you are a current UGA PhD student, I would love to talk with you about opportunities to work together. Send me an email outlining your interests and we can chat together to determine if we'd work well together and what we'd like to work on. When you send me an email, please add the following to the beginning of the email subject line (including the square brackets): [Current PHD Student Inquiry].

Master's Students

If you are currently a master’s student at UGA and are interested in working with me, the first thing to do is to take my HCI course CSCI 4800/6800 or 8000 level graduate seminar. This will help you assess if research in HCC and anti-discriminatory computing is something you are genuinely interested in, and it will help us both get the chance to see if we are a good match for working together. As a rule, I require master’s students to take one of my classes as a prerequisite for a master’s student project or thesis under my supervision.

*Please don't send a generic, copy-paste email. I cannot respond to all the emails I receive. If you send me a generic copy-paste email, you will probably not receive a response.*

Undergrad Students

If you are currently an undergraduate student at UGA and are interested in research, let’s chat!

If you’re interested in working as an undergraduate research assistant in the Socially Responsible Tech Lab, please fill out this interest form to help me get to know you. (Details about the interest form below.)

If you have questions, you can also send me an email at ari.schlesinger [at] uga [dot] edu | If you send me an email please include 1) what interests you about my research lab (be specific), 2) information about your goals (e.g., getting research experience, learning a new skill, getting a recommendation letter, etc.), and 3) a copy of your CV/resume. Additionally, make sure to add the following to the beginning of the email subject line (including the square brackets): [UGA Student Inquiry]

If you’re early in your journey at UGA, that’s great! I enjoy having the opportunity to develop long-term collaborations with students, so please consider applying/emailing.

If you’re not sure about research but you want to learn more, a good first step is to take my HCI course, CSCI 4800/6800. I tend to teach this course in the Fall semester.

Undergrad Interest Form Details

The interest form covers 1) basic info about yourself, 2) short answers about your interest in research and your goals, 3) a place to upload documents (resume, writing sample, unofficial transcripts, etc.), 4) information about a name and contact for a reference, and 5) details about time commitments, selection criteria, etc.

To help you prep to fill out the interest form, the short answer questions in part 2 include:

  • What interests you about our research lab?

  • What are your goals?

  • OPTIONAL: If you've read any research papers by Dr. Schlesinger or her students, which paper(s) have you read and what did you find interesting about them?

  • OPTIONAL: Is there anything else you would like to share about yourself/think we should know?

Post-Docs,
Alt-Ac, etc.

I’m always looking for opportunities to collaborate. While I don’t currently have a specific position available, please reach out and we’ll see what we can make happen.