Robert West Research Statement

Information as well as humans are organized in networks. Interacting with these networks is part of our daily lives: we talk to friends in our social network; we find information by navigating the Web; we spread viruses over networks of interacting people; and we form opinions by listening to others and to the media. Thus, human behavior in networks poses important research problems with practical applications of high impact: analyses of online behavior lead to billions of dollars in ad revenue; understanding users’ informationseeking behavior helps improve websites and search engines; modeling interpersonal interactions is crucial for containing the spread of diseases; and understanding how opinions form lets us counteract propaganda and misinformation. My research aims to solve such pressing problems, and this statement focuses on my work on two important human network behaviors: navigation and language.