Hi, I'm Mel.
I am a researcher in the Big-5 project at Institut de Ciència i Tecnologia Ambientals (ICTA-UAB) in Barcelona, Spain.
My work focuses on visual communication and aesthetics on social media, especially related to politics and nature.
I am broadly interested in social media, computational social science, online political ecology, and visual communication.
My Projects
From Flowers to Fascism? The Cottagecore to Tradwife Pipeline on Tumblr
2026
Research showing the potential for a pipeline resulting from aesthetic similarities between Cottagecore and Tradwife content on Tumblr. Published in Social Media & Society.
Visualizing Complexity Science Workshop
2023
Illustrations and data visualizations for an article prototype "Fight for Survival" created as part of the 2023 Visualizing Complexity Science Workshop.
Ukraine as a Political Tool in Sponsored Content
2022
A poster showing the use of Ukraine as a political tool in Facebook Sponsored content.
Indiana University Societal Computing Lab
2021
Prototypes designed to investigate technologies for mitigating HIV-related stigma.
REU @ University of Southern California
2021
Research about images posted online during the Stop Asian Hate movement completed at USC's Information Sciences Institute during my REU program.
