Technology & Racial Equity Graduate Fellowship

Program Overview

In 2022-2023, the Center for Comparative Studies in Race & Ethnicity (CCSRE) in partnership with the Stanford Ethics Society & Technology Hub, Digital Civil Society Lab and the Stanford Institute for Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence (HAI), is continuing a new graduate fellowship program designed to create:

a supportive community of graduate students working to advance racial equity in and through technology,
public-facing collaborative projects that expand the understanding of racial equity and technology,
an interdisciplinary space to workshop graduate student research.

The fellowship will foster collaboration between engineers researching technical systems and social scientists, humanists and others researching the power and politics that shape society. Through the program, graduate students from across the university will examine the ways that new technologies codify and amplify existing forms of racial inequality, discrimination, and bias, as well as possibilities for advancing racial justice through technology. Interdisciplinary, cross-sector research and interventions may help to avoid harm in these systems and may even serve to advance racial justice.

Our first year cohort included students from across the university, including the School of Engineering, Humanities & Sciences, the Law School, and the School of Education.

Each student will receive $1000 per quarter (Fall, Winter, Spring)

Program Design

In Spring 2022, we will select up to 10 graduate student fellows. Throughout the 2022-2023 academic year (Fall, Winter, Spring), fellows will participate in a bi-weekly workshop (alternating Fridays 12:00-1:30pm) in which they will collaborate on joint projects. In the Fall quarter, fellows will discuss a series of shared readings and hear presentations from faculty and invited guests to develop a shared intellectual foundation. Students will have opportunities to engage with postdocs, practitioners and other fellows at CCSRE, DCSL, and HAI.

Fellows will determine one to three group projects that they will complete in small groups over the course of the year. These might include public-facing writing or media projects, racial justice and ethics workshops, position papers, etc. Time will be devoted to group work and feedback from the larger cohort on these projects throughout the year. Fellows should expect to spend about 10 hours/month devoted to the fellowship.

Note: As a condition for participating in the fellowship, students must be able to attend the bi-weekly workshops on alternating Fridays from 12:00-1:30pm.

Application Process

The fellowship is open to all graduate students at Stanford. A complete application includes:

Short response 1: Why do you want to participate in this program and how will it advance your work? What would you bring to the fellowship cohort? (500 words max)
Short response 2: How does your work address the intersection of technology and racial equity? (This work can be dissertation research, academic service, community organizing, or side projects – we’re interested in anything you’re doing in this space) (250 words max)
CV 
Unofficial transcript
Name of a faculty reference (just a name, a letter is not needed at this time)