Steve Wilson

Steve Wilson is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Computer Science, Engineering, and Physics at the University of Michigan-Flint, within the College of Innovation and Technology. He holds a PhD in Computer Science & Engineering from the University of Michigan and has previously served as an Assistant Professor at Oakland University and held postdoctoral positions at the University of Edinburgh and the University of Michigan.

• PhD | 2019 | University of Michigan | Computer Science & Engineering
• M.S. | 2015 | University of Michigan | Computer Science & Engineering
• B.Sc. | 2013 | Taylor University | Computer Science/Systems

His research focuses on understanding online communication through Natural Language Processing, with emphasis on social context, information literacy, social media narratives, and educational applications. His work bridges computer science, psychology, and social informatics to analyze human behavior in digital environments.

The most recent publications highlight a strong trend in using NLP for social good, including detecting misinformation, analyzing educational discourse, improving AI ethics, and understanding social dynamics such as sarcasm, offensive language, and user profiling. His work frequently appears in top venues like ACL, EMNLP, ICWSM, and SemEval, often in collaboration with leading researchers such as Rada Mihalcea and Walid Magdy.

• MWIN Faculty Innovation Fellow | 2025 | UM-Flint’s Office of Economic Development and EDA University Center for Community and Economic Development
• UM-Flint Proposal Academy Awardee | 2025 | University of Michigan-Flint Office of Sponsored Research Projects

Steve Wilson is the Principal Investigator (PI) on multiple funded research projects, including a National Science Foundation CRII grant on social media framing and an internal UM-Flint grant on AI in STEM education. He co-investigates an NSF REU site on Home Health Technology. He leads the CoCoA Lab at UM-Flint, which focuses on computational analysis of communication and context. He mentors graduate students and is actively involved in developing new courses, including a recent offering in Natural Language Processing.