I'm a third-year Societal Computing Ph.D. student at Carnegie Mellon University (CMU), supervised by Professor Kathleen Carley. I draw on fan studies, sociolinguistics, and cultural studies to study how online communities negotiate intergroup relations and boundaries and construct representations for the things they talk about and themselves. My work uses mixed methods, primarily applied natural language processing and social network analysis balanced with discourse analysis.
Before coming to CMU, I worked in information research at the Defence Science and Technology Agency in Singapore. I did my Master of Arts (Research) in Psychology at Nanyang Technological University (NTU) with a focus on computational social science, supervised by Professor Ringo Ho - my thesis analyzed the correlates of and gendered differences in repeat advice-seeking behavior on Reddit. In the even more distant past, I was a full-time research assistant in a lab situated between the Nanyang Business School and School of Social Sciences at NTU. I did my undergraduate at the National University of Singapore, where I majored in Psychology and was part of the University Scholars Programme.
Kang, B.N.Y., & Carley, K.M. (2027). A woman by any other name: A computational case study on variability in fan fiction. Transformative Works & Cultures, 52 (forthcoming).
Kang, B.N.Y., Ho, M.H.R., & Jaidka, K. (2025). User features and gendered patterns in repeat online advice-seeking behavior. Journal of Quantitative Description: Digital Media, 5. [link]
Ho, M.H.R., Uy, M.A., Kang, B.N.Y., & Chan, K.Y. (2018). Impact of Entrepreneurship Training on Entrepreneurial Efficacy and Alertness among Adolescent Youth. Frontiers in Education, 3. [link]
Chan, K.Y., Ho, M.H.R., Kennedy, J., Uy, M.A., Kang, B.N.Y., Chernyshenko, O., & Yu, T. (2017). Who Wants to Be an Intrapreneur? Relations between Employees’ Entrepreneurial, Professional, and Leadership Career Motivations and Intrapreneurial Motivation in Organizations. Frontiers In Psychology, 8. [link]
chapters
Kang, B.N.Y. & Uy. M. (2020). An Examination of Entrepreneurial, Professional and Leadership (EPL) Career Aspirations among Adolescent Youth. Book chapter in Entrepreneurship-professionalism-leadership: A multidimensional framework for human capital and career development in the 21st century.
conference presentations//
[Talk | Abstract] Kang, B.N.Y. & Carley, K.M. (2026, October 22-25). There are two in the room: a computational study of affective engagement and outgroup marking on Marxist-Leninist Tumblr. Fan Studies Network North America (FSNNA) 2026, Online.
[Talk | Working paper] Kang, B.N.Y. & Carley, K.M. (2026, October 12-14). Fannish forms of engagement and exclusionary out-group naming on Marxist-Leninist Tumblr. IDeaS Conference 2026, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States.
[Talk | Abstract] Kang, B.N.Y. & Carley, K.M. (2025, October 23-26). A man by any other name: a mixed-methods study of recontextualization in fanfiction. Fan Studies Network North America (FSNNA) 2025, Online.
[Talk | Working paper] Kang, B.N.Y. & Carley, K.M. (2025, October 14-17). Investigating potential collective victimhood narratives in online communities and their constructions of threat. IDeaS Conference 2025, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States.
[Poster | Working paper] Kang, B.N.Y. (2024, September 18-20). Capturing Differences in Character Representations Between Communities: An Initial Study with Fandom. SBP-BRiMS 2024, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. [link]
[Poster | Abstract] Kang, B.N.Y. & Ho, M.H.R (2019, July 17-20). Do I stay? Exploring factors related to repeated advice seeking on a relationship advice forum. IC2S2 2019, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
[Talk | Full paper] Ho, M.H.R., Uy, M.A., Kang, B.N.Y., Tan, L.T.S., & Chan, K.Y. (2017, February 5-9). Impact of entrepreneurship training on entrepreneurial alertness and efficacy. The Australian Center for Entrepreneurship Research Exchange (ACERE), Melbourne, Australia.
personal🌌
I have a lot of room in my heart for fanfiction, fanart, and online communities in general! I'm also a long-time MMO player and am currently on FFXIV. I enjoy RPGs, roguelites, and the occasional rhythm game too. Outside of that, I do digital art (read: fanart), play the electric guitar, make charms, and dabble in acrylic pouring and watercolor. I'm learning a third language as well! I'm the proud companion of Revali, a crested gecko.
So many things have happened leading up to the closing off of my second year- I would first like to thank Professor Mel Stanfill and the folks at UCF for taking me into your fan studies working group in spring - I’ve learnt so much and I can’t wait to see everyone again in fall! Thank you again to Professor John Oddo and my advisor, Professor Carley, for guiding me through yet another project. I will be presenting this new project (fannish engagement with Marxist-Leninist figures and its links to exclusionary naming) at FSNNA’26 in the...
