NSF 21-606 RESEARCH EXPERIENCES FOR TEACHERS (RET) IN ENGINEERING AND COMPUTER SCIENCE 

2023-24: National Science Foundation, $$599,344 (Senior Personnel) RET Site: Research Experiences in Cybersecurity for Nevada Teachers (RECNT)

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE GRANT (FEDERAL): NEWS ANALYSIS: WORKSHOPS FOR EMERGING AND COMMUNITY JOURNALISTS FUNDING OPPORTUNITY: M-NOFO-20-104. 2021.

This proposal seeks to encourage news analysis, and news presentation skills among emerging journalists and community reporters. For journalists, knowing how to analyze the logical structure of news and news analysis skills encourage and improve critical thinking and sharpen their ability to acutely comprehend complex information. We worked with emerging journalists and community reporters to strengthen skills to discern, question and further refine information and the  framing of stories to best serve their audiences.

CENTER FOR ADVANCED MEDIA STUDIES UNIVERSITY OF RENO, NEVADA: 2021

Awarded the CAMS grant from the Reynolds School of Journalism for publication subvention.

FEDERAL GRANT: 2020

Dr. Paromita Pain (PI), Dr. Gi W Yun (Co-PI), and Dr. Sung-Yeon Park (Co-PI). The proposal submitted by University of Nevada, Reno, in response to Funding Opportunity Number: M-NOFO-20-103 [Stopping the Spread of Disinformation – Training Emerging Journalists], has been considered for funding.

In recent years, India has been facing an information crisis caused by misinformation primarily spread through online social media platforms, resulting in erosion of trust, disregard for truth, and physical and psychological violence levied against women and minorities. To meet this challenge, the U.S. Consulate General, Public Affairs Section in Mumbai solicited proposals for a grant that will train 100 journalists, including journalism students, in misinformation identification and misinformation-busting. 

Drawing on our prior experience of training local journalists, journalism students, and immigrant community members in Northern Nevada to effectively deal with online misinformation, we are proposing to train 50 journalists and 50 journalism students in South and Western India. In doing so, we will tap on our existing collaboration with Meedan, a San Francisco-based nonprofit dedicated to the development of software and curricula that allow journalists and the public to identify misinformation online and counter it in their professional practice and everyday information consumption. After tailoring Meedan’s curriculum to the Indian context, we will also subtitle the videos in four South and Western Indian languages; Hindi, Tamil, Telugu and Kannada. 

The workshops in India will be conducted in Summer 2021.

CENTER FOR ADVANCED MEDIA STUDIES UNIVERSITY OF RENO, NEVADA: 2019

Awarded the CAMS grant from the Reynolds School of Journalism to study misinformation in Kashmir (2019). The problem of “fake news” and misinformation appears to be a substantial problem in India. However, unlike the United States, where the focus is mostly on foreign based misinformation campaigns, India has more of a domestic misinformation problem involving major political parties and associated “cyber-army” groups. There is no specific provision in Indian law that specifically deals with fake news. However, there are several offenses in India’s Penal Code that criminalize certain forms of speech that may be relevant to fake news and may apply to online or social media content, including the crimes of sedition and promoting enmity between different groups. This project specifically examines the effect of militancy and conflict on the generation and consumption of fake news and misinformation.

This project is in progress and is being done in collaboration with the University of Kashmir.