Dan Bially Levy, a PhD student in the Information School, has received the prestigious National Science Foundation (NSF) Graduate Research Fellowship, a competitive award supporting outstanding graduate students pursuing full-time research-based graduate degrees in STEM fields.
Bially Levy studies questions at the intersection of social behavior and online privacy. His fellowship-winning proposal centers on privacy sensemaking — how people interpret and navigate online privacy decisions — and whether collective privacy management strategies could help reduce feelings of privacy fatigue, the burnout that comes from constantly managing one’s digital footprint. He is also beginning a separate project examining the social norms surrounding age verification systems.
“I’m incredibly honored that the NSF believes in my potential as a researcher enough to offer this funding,” he said. The internet, he added, has played a central role in his own identity and sense of community, shaping his research focus.
“I approach my research with the goal of helping people find safety and community online,” he said. “I’m incredibly excited that this fellowship will allow me the time to focus on these endeavors and put my all into conducting meaningful research.” He credited his advisor, Professor Emilee Rader, and the broader iSchool community for their support throughout the application process.
Bially Levy’s work takes seriously how real people navigate technology in their lives, reflecting the kind of human-centered, socially grounded research that iSchool faculty and graduate students are known for conducting.