Today's Messages

The Fall 2025 Data Science and Analytics Seminar Series presents "Misinformation & Society: Five Lessons I’ve Learned from Studying Thousands of Years of Falsehoods" with invited speaker Yotam Ophir, associate professor of communication at the University at Buffalo, on Monday, November 3, from 4:30 to 5:45 p.m. in Bacon Hall 115 (Zoom 718 634 0613).

The presentation will focus on:

• Misinformation is nothing new, yet nothing is the same either
• We did not evolve to be accurate
• Misinformation is social
• The price of misinformation is going down
• There is no silver bullet solution 

Yotam Ophir, Ph.D., is an associate professor of communication at the University at Buffalo and a Distinguished Fellow at the Annenberg Public Policy Center at the University of Pennsylvania. His research focuses on media effects, misinformation, conspiracy theories, and extremism. Ophir has published over 55 peer-reviewed papers in leading journals, including the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, American Journal of Public Health, and Journal of Communication. He is author of the 2025 book Misinformation and Society and the co-author of Democracy amid Crises: Polarization, Pandemic, Protests, & Persuasion. Ophir has been featured in numerous outlets, including the New York Times, Washington Post, NBC News, NPR, BBC, and more. In 2024, Ophir was selected as one of ten "Scientists to Watch" by Science News magazine. Dr. Ophir is the recipient of SUNY’s Chancellor’s Horizon Award for Faculty Research and Scholarship and UB's Exceptional Scholar: Young Investigator Award.