April 25, 2025
9:30am–3:30pm Boston / 6:30am–12:30pm Oakland / 2:30pm–8:30pm London
On April 25th, the NULab will be hosting its eighth annual spring conference, “Social Justice,” showcasing the work of faculty, students, and research collaborators.
The keynote address will be delivered by Catherine Knight Steele, Associate Professor of Communications at the University of Maryland.
This event is free and open to the public, but registration is required; please RSVP here. Zoom information will be emailed upon registration.
The conference will be hybrid. We will gather in person at the Centers for Digital Scholarship in Snell Library, and virtually on Zoom. All are welcome to join! We can accept RSVPs for the virtual conference up to the day of the event, but if you will be joining us in person for food, please RSVP by April 15.
Please note: We are committed to reducing food waste for this event. If you RSVP to join in person and are not able to attend please let us know by April 18 so we can update the lunch order.
Keynote Speaker Biography
Dr. Catherine Knight Steele is an educator, researcher, and award-winning author whose research focuses on race and media, specifically emphasizing Black discourse and culture, technology, and social media. She moves beyond examinations of representation in the media to consider the relationship between resistance and joy as technologies of liberation. Much of her work creates spaces of care, community, and collaboration for a more just digital future. She is an Associate Professor of Communication at the University of Maryland – College Park where she directs the Black Communication and Technology lab (BCaT) as a part of the Digital Inquiry, Speculation, Collaboration, & Optimism (DISCO) Network funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.
Dr. Steele is a 2024-26 Just Tech Fellow as part of the Social Science Research Council. As a Just Tech Fellow, she is working on “Automating Black Joy,” a cross-generational collaborative project that reimagines the role of Black youth, culture, and history in shaping digital futures. By viewing Black youth as leaders and emphasizing joy as a form of resistance, the project looks to create a collaborative educational model from high school to graduate school. It focuses on accessible research, highlighting Black culture, history, and resistance methods and addressing critical questions about automation, AI, and their implications.
