2025 Neukom Outstanding Research Prize in Computational Science

Congratulations to Mingyue Zha `27 for winning 2nd Prize in the 2025 Neukom Outstanding Undergraduate Research In Computational Science competition. Mingyue's research project is titled, Gender Inequalities in Content Collaborations: Asymmetric Creator Synergy and Symmetric Audience Biases, and it was recently published in the Proceedings of the International AAAI Conference on Web and Social Media. Mingyue's work was conducted under the supervision of Assistant Professor of Quantitative Social Science Herbert Chang `18. Not only did Mingyue win a Neukom award for her work, but she also received a top paper award at the International Communication Association Conference.

Mingyue is majoring in QSS and minoring in Chemistry and is on the pre-medicine track. She plans to pursue a career in psychiatry, with a focus on providing inclusive and data-informed mental health care. As a Stamps Scholar, Mingyue is currently studying how social media platforms and AI chatbots can support individuals with social anxiety in order to inform both clinical outcomes and mental health policy. She is working under Faculty mentors Herbert Chang and Yusaku Horiuchi.

Mingyue is from Woodbridge, Connecticut, and has been working with Professor Chang since her freshman fall. Her previous research with Professor Chang has spanned the domains of computational social science, affective computing, political communication, and more. In addition to investigating gender inequalities in content creator collaborations, Mingyue also worked in Professor Chang's lab during the US 2024 election,  studying social media discourse and AI-driven content. Professor Chang is Mingyue's primary mentor for her current Stamps project. 

Outside of research, Mingyus served as president of the Nathan Smith Pre-Health Society, supporting fellow students on their pre-health journeys. As the current president of the Dartmouth Mental Health Union, she actively advocates for initiatives that promote student well-being on campus. She was also a teaching assistant in the Music department, and in her free time, she is a classical pianist and visual artist.