NEW YORK/PRNewswire/ -- Google has awarded a multi-year grant to Polytechnic Institute of New York University's (NYU-Poly) Oded Nov to further his study of the role of design in shaping online behavior.

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Nov, an assistant professor in the Department of Technology Management and Innovation, has long focused on social media, and the behavioral aspects of information systems. Working with Mor Naamanof the Rutgers University School of Communication and Information, he will embark on an ambitious new two-year project to examine the factors that impact users' interactions with and contributions to social media.

"In particular, we will focus on the impact of social traces created by users' feedback and inputs ? the social cues about the attributes of the users, their opinions and the community they form," Nov said. "As in the physical world, your behavior online changes depending on the others around you."

Google bestows the Focused Research Award, as the unrestricted grant is known, upon scientists working in areas of key interest to the company as well as to the broader research community.

Nov holds degrees from Tel Aviv University, the London School of Economics and Cambridge University. In addition to the Google Focused Research Award, his other achievements include the prestigious National Science Foundation CAREER Award.

About Polytechnic Institute of New York University 

The Polytechnic Institute of New York University (formerly the Brooklyn Polytechnic Institute and the Polytechnic University, now widely known as NYU-Poly) is an affiliated institute of New York University, soon to be its School of Engineering. NYU-Poly, founded in 1854, is the nation's second-oldest private engineering school. It is presently a comprehensive school of education and research in engineering and applied sciences, rooted in a 159-year tradition of invention, innovation and entrepreneurship. It remains on the cutting edge of technology, innovatively extending the benefits of science, engineering, management and liberal studies to critical real-world opportunities and challenges, especially those linked to urban systems, health and wellness, and the global information economy. In addition to its programs on the main campus in New York City at MetroTech Center in downtown Brooklyn, it offers programs around the globe remotely through NYUe-Poly. NYU-Poly is closely connected to engineering in NYU Abu Dhabi and NYU Shanghai and to the NYU Center for Urban Science and Progress (CUSP) also at MetroTech, while operating two incubators in downtown Manhattan and Brooklyn. For more information, visit www.poly.edu.

SOURCE Polytechnic Institute of New York University