Student Spotlight: Md. Main Uddin Rony, Ph.D. Student
Md. Main’s interest in data analysis fueled his pursuit to join the iSchool’s Ph.D. program in Fall 2019 as a full-time student and research assistant. After contributing to several research ventures at UMD, Md. Main found himself particularly drawn to Computational Journalism, a rapidly evolving, interdisciplinary field that aims to promote journalism practices through computational technique employment. In collaboration with faculty advisor Dr. Naeemul Hassan, Md. Main’s current research aims to understand the impacts of health-related news headlines and their ability to generate audience engagement. In an era with uninterrupted and often untrustworthy news dissemination, he hopes this work will support a future with more reliable health-related news – and even sees it evolving to the development of dependable automated headline generation technology. Md. Main values the unique diversity and sense of community within the Ph.D. program and the various opportunities available for professional development. In his spare time, Md. Main is a keen traveler and can often be found playing cricket.