{"id":75050,"date":"2026-08-13T09:19:44","date_gmt":"2026-08-13T13:19:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/?p=75050"},"modified":"2026-08-13T09:19:45","modified_gmt":"2026-08-13T13:19:45","slug":"prof-david-rand","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/prof-david-rand\/","title":{"rendered":"How Is Academia Like Punk Rock? Ask Cornell Prof David Rand \u201904"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Back at his alma mater, he\u2019s making headlines for groundbreaking research melding AI, psychology, economics, poli sci, and more<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Editor’s note: Rand’s appearance on Cornell’s <\/em>Research Matters podcast can be viewed here<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Beth Saulnier<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The m\u00e9tiers of professor and punker may seem worlds apart, but Cornell faculty member David Rand \u201904<\/a> sees parallels\u2014quite a lot of them, in fact. \u201cI\u2019ve got this spiel,\u201d Rand says, \u201cabout how playing in a punk rock band and being an academic are extremely similar occupations.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As he explains, both start with a germ of an idea\u2014in science it\u2019s a hypothesis or observation, in music it\u2019s a riff, lyric, or bit of melody\u2014that must be developed into something coherent, even beautiful.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

\u201cBut you have to capture it\u2014writing the paper or recording the song\u2014in order to share it with other people, and that\u2019s always the most painful part. But if you don\u2019t, it doesn\u2019t count for anything, because no one will find out about it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then, Rand says, you put your creation out into the world, and hope people like it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou count your citations, or your plays on Spotify. And you go on tour; every time I give a seminar or a talk at a conference, I\u2019m thinking, \u2018I\u2019m on tour, selling records.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>

\"David
Rocking out during his student days.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And yes: Rand knows a fair amount about both worlds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As a teen growing up in Ithaca as the son of an applied math prof, Rand played in a series of punk bands\u2014most notably Robot Goes Here<\/a>\u2014and eventually landed a record deal with an indie label.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But he was also an excellent student; he did the first-ever undergrad honors thesis in computational biology, then did a second thesis on the psychology of music, just for kicks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rand did the first-ever undergrad honors thesis in computational biology, then did a second thesis on the psychology of music, just for kicks.<\/p><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

These days, Rand is a star at his alma mater, where his multidisciplinary social science research straddles three colleges: his job is split 50-50 between Johnson (where he\u2019s the Louis Professor of Management) and Bowers (in information science), plus a courtesy appointment in psychology in Arts & Sciences.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHe likes to study things that matter\u2014that feel very contemporary, very urgent,\u201d says colleague Steve Strogatz<\/a>, the Winokur Distinguished Professor for the Public Understanding of Science and Mathematics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"David
As a senior, with his highest-honors certificate.<\/figcaption><\/figure>
\n

\u201cHe has a very skillful scientific flair. He finds ways to take questions that might seem amorphous and sharpen them into something you can really do science on. He\u2019s done that time and time again, and it\u2019s not easy\u2014to be interested in current affairs, be a student of the zeitgeist, and translate it into solvable problems.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Strogatz has known Rand for much of his life; Rand\u2019s father is longtime friend and colleague Richard Rand<\/a>, now emeritus. (His mother was the late Joyce Sirlin-Rand, a psychotherapist at Gannett Health Center and in private practice.)<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After graduating from Arts & Sciences, Rand earned a doctorate in systems biology from Harvard and got tenure at Yale before moving to MIT.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

His early work explored issues like human cooperation and greed, topics that still engage him. But it was his studies of misinformation and \u201cfake news\u201d\u2014a focus of broad public interest during and after the 2016 presidential election\u2014that made headlines.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

He likes to study things that matter\u2014that feel very contemporary, very urgent.<\/p>\nProf. Steve Strogatz<\/strong><\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

In 2018, he and frequent collaborator Gordon Pennycook<\/a> (now an associate professor of psychology on the Hill) published a paper in the journal Cognition<\/em> titled \u201cLazy, Not Biased\u201d\u2014which found that people tend to fall for partisan-driven fake news for no more sinister a reason than they just don\u2019t think about it enough.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s currently one of Rand\u2019s most cited papers on Google Scholar<\/a>, with more than 3,200 citations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"David
During Commencement with his father, Prof. Richard Rand.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not that when you think more, you get more biased\u2014which is what people had been saying,\u201d Rand explains.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhat we showed, and replicated in lots of subsequent contexts, is that people are much more sensitive to whether something is true than whether it lines up with their politics. Getting them to think more makes them better at judging how accurate it is\u2014and I think that\u2019s an optimistic message.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2023, they published a major study of COVID misinformation; involving 35,000 participants across 16 countries and six continents, it went on to win an award<\/a> from the Behavioral Science & Policy Association.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

People are much more sensitive to whether something is true than whether it lines up with their politics. Getting them to think more makes them better at judging how accurate it is\u2014and I think that\u2019s an optimistic message.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

All told, Rand\u2019s more than 250 peer-reviewed publications have been cited upwards of 77,000 times.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In recent years, he and Pennycook\u2014along with their former MIT postdoc Tom Costello, now at Carnegie Mellon\u2014have been studying the potential of artificial intelligence in helping combat misinformation. While Rand was at MIT, they launched DebunkBot<\/a>; it invites users to present a conspiracy theory, which an AI chatbot then challenges through reasoned discussion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The site, which has had more than 200,000 organic visitors, has been shown to convince about a quarter of users to abandon their chosen conspiracy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Richard
With his dad (far left) and colleague Gordon Pennycook, in the latter’s office.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMy eyes kind of popped out of my head,\u201d Rand says of the result. \u201cIt really, durably changed people\u2019s minds.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Science<\/em> published those findings in 2024, in what he calls \u201cone of the first papers on humans and large language models interacting and changing people\u2019s beliefs\u201d; the work would go on to win a prestigious award<\/a> from the American Association for the Advancement of Science.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As Rand explains, DebunkBot works in part by obviating a common tactic\u2014known as the \u201cGish Gallop\u201d after a prominent creationist\u2014in which the conspiracist launches a barrage of increasingly outlandish claims.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rand\u2019s more than 250 peer-reviewed publications have been cited upwards of 77,000 times.<\/p><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhen you see an expert and a conspiracist debate, the expert often winds up looking bad because the conspiracist is like, \u2018What about this crazy piece of evidence? What about this one?\u2019\u201d Rand says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe conspiracy theorist keeps saying crazy things and puts the expert on the defensive. But you can\u2019t do that to a chatbot, because whatever you say, it can immediately come up with an answer.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rand joined the Cornell faculty\u2014and returned to his hometown\u2014in 2025. Having spent a sabbatical from MIT on the Hill, he and his wife (pediatrician Elizabeth Paci \u201906) decided that Ithaca was a more livable place to raise their family. Now, their kids attend his former elementary school.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Prof.
Lecturing during his time on the MIT faculty.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In addition to his teaching and research, Rand recently served on the Committee on the Future of the American University<\/a>, which explored how Cornell can best serve tomorrow\u2019s students and support its core missions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And this fall, he and Pennycook are launching AI for an Informed Society; a cross-college initiative, it will develop ways to harness the technology to correct misconceptions on such topics as democracy, health, and the environment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cDavid is very wide ranging and very curious,\u201d Strogatz says. \u201cHe has taken ideas from all kinds of different subjects\u2014computer science, sociology, psychology\u2014and is always forging new connections. He seems to delight in asking these questions, and there\u2019s a great spirit of playfulness in him. So I don\u2019t get the sense that this is a job to him; I feel like he would do this for fun.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

(All images provided.)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Published August 13, 2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

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