Dr. Budak is an Assistant Professor in University of Michigan’s School of Information, and an Assistant Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science. Her main interest is in computational social science. She is particularly interested in the use of large scale data sets and computational techniques to study problems with policy, social, and political implications. Dr. Budak’s degrees are in Computer Science, with a B.S. from Bilkent
University, Turkey, and a Ph.D. from the University of California, Santa Barbara.


This talk assesses the factors charitable givers consider when deciding which charities receive their monetary donations. For example, do donors consider the
efficiency of organizations they contribute to? Recent research suggests that the average donor is “wasting” over 15% of their contribution by opting for poorly run organizations as opposed to higher-rated charities supporting the same cause(s). The talk explores ways to use the internet to improve giving decisions. More generally, it explores the reasons people care about the causes that they support.

This is the last in a six-lecture series. The subject is Behavioral and Social Sciences: Real World Applications. The next series will start April 19, 2018. The subject is Faces of Addiction.