Instead of a lab, my research group is organized around the Community Data Science Collective. The CDSC is split between the University of Washington Department of Communication and a number of other academic institutions. We have a couple dozen faculty, post-doc, and graduate student members and we're always looking to add more. You should consider joining us!
I have advised or co-advised students in the University of Washington's Department of Communication, Department of Human-Centered Design & Engineering (HCDE), the Paul G. Allen School of Computer Science & Engineering (CSE), and in the Information School (iSchool).
PhD programs I am involved with at UW[edit]
My primary appointment is in the University of Washington Department of Communication, and most of my PhD students have been based in this department. The department has an absolutely wonderful PhD program. When I was considering graduate school, I very nearly went here myself!
I also advise students in several other departments at UW. I am involved in the admissions process in HCDE and CSE most years and have reviewed applicants and interviewed students in both departments. That said, because I am adjunct faculty in both departments and I believe it is important that every student has active mentorship from faculty fully engaged with a department, I will typically only advocate for admission of a student in HCDE or CSE if there is at least one other faculty member in these departments who is interested in coadvising the student in question.
What I'm looking for in students[edit]
The most important thing I'm looking for in students is a deep interest in online communities involved in building public information goods. In the past, that has typically involved sites like Wikipedia, Fandom/Wikia, free/open source software, free culture, OpenStreetMap, Reddit, Q&A sites, or a wide range of other peer production communities. I'm typically less interested in pure social media communities that are "just" about talking and chatting. I am also looking for students with a technical background (e.g., at least a little experience with programming, statistics, and/or mathematics).
I'm particularly interested in students interested in studying peer production communities to understand how and why they work. If you contribute to a wiki, a remixing community, or a free software project, if you use GNU/Linux, if you enjoy programming (even if it's only ever used a means to solving problems you do care about), and if you want to become a social scientist, please consider applying to our department and let me know you've applied.
It's OK if you're not an expert in all this stuff yet or if you don't know a lot of statistics, programming, or social science theory. After all, grad school is school. Learning new tools and approaches is hopefully a big part of why you're applying to graduate school in the first place. What's important is that you show me (and the admissions committee) that you're interested, prepared, and able to learn.
Personally, I'm much less concerned with things like grades and test scores than I am with a proven ability to build things, to ask interesting questions, to write working code, to craft solid prose, and to make the world a better place. Of course, admission is never entirely up to me, and things like grades and test scores certainly help your case.
Applying to UW[edit]
First of all, you need decide which program(s) at UW you wan to apply to. Each year, I am most involved in—and have most influence in—decisions within the Department of Communication. If you hope to work with me but are applying in another department, you should identify at least one other potential coadvisor in that other department.
Once you've done that, you should check out the following information about applying to the programs at UW:
- UW Department of Communication MA/PhD Admissions Homepage
- UW Human-Centered Design and Engineering PhD Admissions Homepage (Note: HCDE will not be admitting a PhD class who will begin in September 2026)
- UW Department of Computer Science & Engineering PhD Admissions Homepage
- UW iSchool PhD Admissions Homepage
Things you should know about my role in the PhD admissions process[edit]
About half of my advisees are PhD students in the Department of Communication. The Department of Communication is broad and interdisciplinary, accepting a diverse range of students with interests in work that spans the humanities and social sciences.
I will serve on the UW Department of Communication graduate admissions committee in 2024. It's worth remembering that the committee reviews applications and makes decisions collectively, based exclusively on the information in the file. That means that the place and time to impress me is in your written application, as it is the only evidence that can be used to justify a decision to move forward.
I do not serve on the graduate admissions committee in any other department. This means that I will not be reviewing applications from the general pool or making the initial cut from the list of applications. As part of the admissions process in other departments, I always give feedback on applicants to the admissions committee.
Once the first cut is over, the committee in every department will reach out to potential advisers and committee members. The admission committee always asks me two questions:
- What do I think about the student relative to other applicants?
- Am I a likely (a) advisor/chair or (b) committee member?
The key thing for students to realize when reaching out to potential faculty members like me is that my opinion, in terms of the first question, only matters if the answer to question 2(a) and, to a lesser extent, 2(b) is affirmative.
At this stage, I am only asked to weigh in on students that the admissions committee has decided will likely work with me. This means my opinion is only valued strongly if the applicant's proposed research agenda involves studies of social media and/or online communities, or whose methodological toolbox includes quantitative data science or programming.
Because some of my influence at the admissions stage stems from my ability to fund RAs, being able to work as an RA for one of my funded projects greatly improves your chances of being admitted to our program. However, you will only be at an advantage if you can convince the committee (and me!) that you are interested and able to do the kinds of work described in the grants my lab has received or will apply for.
Asking questions[edit]
If you have questions about the departments or the admissions process, please check the material on the admissions websites and FAQs, and/or contact the admissions staff, who will be more helpful and responsive than I am.
If you have questions about my research or about working with me, you can email me directly at makohill@uw.edu. If I don't know you, please introduce yourself by describing your interests, qualifications, and the reasons you think these align with my research interests and methodologies. If you're unfamiliar with my research interests and methods, I recommend reviewing my academic page, perhaps even reading a couple of papers, to ensure it's a good match.
Please keep in mind that I am often busy and not always awesome at email. As a result, it might take me some time to respond to prospective students. If it's been more than a week or two, feel free to ping me again.
Meetings (prospective UW graduate students)[edit]
Unfortunately, my fall quarter 2024 is completely booked with teaching and service responsibilities, and I do not have the bandwidth to meet with prospective students 1-on-1 while the quarter is in session. Feel free to ask me questions via email, and we can proceed from there. I'd also be happy to talk in the new year if it's still useful.
Both the UW Department of Communication and the Community Data Science Collective will have open PhD recruiting events that will provide an opportunity to meet folks. As I write this, neither event has been planned yet. The CDSC event happens each year and will always be announced on the CDSC blog and the CDSC community email list—either of which you can subscribe to email alerts from. The UW Communication one will be announced on the UW MA/PhD program website.
Meetings (admitted UW graduate students)[edit]
If you have been admitted to UW in Communication, Human-Centered Design & Engineering, Computer Science & Engineering, the Information School, or any other department, really, I'd love to talk with you!
If you don't fulfill the criteria I listed above, that means I very likely did not participate in the review of your application. However, it does not mean I will not work with you at some point in the future, teach classes that you might take, or help you try to develop and frame your research as a graduate student at UW.
And, of course, if you've been admitted to other excellent programs, I would also love to try to convince you to join UW. I love UW and I love Seattle and I would love to tell you why.
