Aashka Dave is a graduate of MIT's Comparative Media Studies program, where she studied audience engagement, risk communications, and media in transition. Prior to CMS, Aashka worked on digital projects at The Associated Press and earned degrees in journalism and Romance languages from The University of Georgia. Aashka has most recently worked as a researcher at the MIT Center for Civic Media and the Harvard Kennedy School. She is currently a doctoral student in UNC-Chapel Hill's School of Information and Library Sciences. Thesis: When to Start Freaking Out: Audience Engagement on Social Media During Disease Outbreaks