S6E1: Dr. Maria Konte on Computer Networks, Tackling Misinformation, & More

On this episode, host Tanmay Shah chats with  Dr. Maria Konte. She is a researcher at Georgia Tech whose work sits at the intersection of Internet security, network measurements, and online misinformation. She’s done incredible work uncovering how malicious actors exploit online ecosystems and how we can build safer, more trustworthy digital spaces.

TIMESTAMPS- 

(0:00) - Cold Intro 

(02:05) From Greece to Boston to Georgia Tech Researcher / Professor 

(05:10) Internship at Verisign Labs with Cybersecurity team as PhD student 

(09:50) Early research focused on identifying abused networks and social media research 

(12:15) Course Navigator Lab building a product to help students choose classes 

(21:45) Discussion of RAG Architecture for Course Navigator (with AI Agents) 

(22:47) Teaching Computer Networks 

(26:07) Teaching Modern Internet Research Methods course 

(29:53) Creative thinking in research, "is there an art to doing research?" 

(33:42) What sorts of research projects and topics are interesting to Dr. Konte? 

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EDITOR – Jim Lohse