Cody Buntain

Cody Buntain is an Assistant Professor at the College of Information Studies (iSchool) at the University of Maryland (UMD), serving as Co-Director of the Center for AI, Data, and Conflict. He is also an Affiliate Fellow at UMD's Honors College – Artificial Intelligence Cluster and a research affiliate at NYU’s Center for Social Media and Politics (CSMaP). His research focuses on crisis informatics, online political engagement, and information quality, particularly examining how AI shapes information ecosystems during crises, conflicts, and social unrest.

Dr. Buntain’s work addresses disinformation, health misinformation, and AI-driven methods for emergency response. Key affiliations include the Global Elections and Information Security (GEIS) initiative and the Tech Policy Research & Education Hub. His research has been featured in major media outlets like the New York Times, Washington Post, and WIRED.

Education: PhD in Information Studies from University of Maryland (2016), postdoctoral research at NYU’s SMaPP Lab (2018-2019) and UMD’s Human-Computer Interaction Lab (HCIL, 2016-2018). Previously served as Assistant Professor at NJIT’s Informatics department and Adjunct Faculty at American University. Professional experience includes Director of Research at Pikewerks Corporation (2008–2013).

Current projects include E-VERIFY (HMT-ISR analysis), M3I (maps/models for influence efforts), and the Incident Streams TRECIS initiative. His GitHub repositories reflect technical contributions to crisis informatics, including tools for social media analysis during disasters.