David Rand

David Rand is a Professor of Information Science and Marketing and Management Communications at Cornell University.

Applying the tools of computational social science and cognitive science, David’s research combines behavioral experiments run online and in the field with computational models to understand people’s attitudes, beliefs, and choices. He focuses on exploring how dialogues between humans and generative AI models can be used to correct inaccurate beliefs (e.g. conspiracy theories, health misperceptions), illuminating why people share inaccurate information and what interventions reduce such behaviors, understanding political psychology and polarization, and promoting human cooperation.

David received his B.A. in Computational Biology from Cornell University in 2004 and his Ph.D. in Systems Biology from Harvard University in 2009, was a post-doctoral researcher in Harvard University’s Department of Psychology from 2009 to 2013, and was an Assistant and then Associate Professor (with tenure) of Psychology, Economics, and Management at Yale University from 2013-2018, and an associate and then full professor of Management Science and Brain and Cognitive Sciences at MIT prior to joining Cornell in 2025.