Michael Miller Yoder

Michael Miller Yoder is a Teaching Assistant Professor in the School of Computing and Information at the University of Pittsburgh. His research focuses on data science, natural language processing (NLP), and computational social science, with an emphasis on analyzing hate speech, identity expression, and ethical implications of AI. He holds a PhD in Language Technologies from Carnegie Mellon University (2021), advised by Carolyn P. Rosé, and conducted postdoctoral research at CMU's Collaboratory Against Hate and IDeaS Center.

Research Interests: Yoder's work explores computational methods to study social interaction, including how identities and ideologies are expressed online. He has developed tools like FanfictionNLP for analyzing fanfiction and contributed to hate speech detection frameworks targeting white supremacist and misogynistic content. His work also bridges sociolinguistics and NLP, examining code-switching and discourse dynamics in platforms like Wikipedia.

Recent Trends in Articles: His 2023-2024 publications emphasize detecting extremist language (e.g., white supremacist propaganda analysis), analyzing hate speech targeting marginalized groups, and evaluating fairness in AI-generated educational tools. Earlier work (2017-2021) focused on dialogue modeling, Wikipedia collaboration patterns, and identity construction in online communities.

• Awards: Best Student Paper (IJCNLP 2017), NSF Graduate Fellowship (2015-2018), Outstanding Reviewer (ACL 2021), and multiple conference distinctions.
• Teaching: Leads courses in NLP ethics, data science, and predictive modeling. Known for designing accessible curricula for non-CS students.
• Labs/Teams: Collaborates with the Collaboratory Against Hate and IDeaS Center at CMU, focusing on countering online extremism through computational methods.