Conferences & Invited Lectures
Professor Bruce Lewenstein delivered the paper “Core Competencies for Communicating Basic Science” at the SciPEP workshop on equipping scientists to communicate about basic research, which was co-sponsored by the Kavli Foundation and the US Department of Energy's Office of Science. Bruce presented material based on 12+ years of work on science communication training, identifying core competencies science communicators need to learn. He also presented the rationale for planning training differently for “occasional,” “active,” and “professional” science communicators.
Assistant Professor Neil Lewis, Jr., will participate in the panel “Combatting Health and Climate Mis/Disinformation.” At the request of the Nobel Prize Summit committee, in collaboration with the Stockholm Resilience Centre, the panel will address the present and evolving challenges of combatting misinformation and/or promoting sustained pro-health, pro-environmental, and generally pro-social behaviors.
Grants
Assistant Professor Monica Cornejo received two Melon Foundation Migrations Initiatives Grants in the category of Just Futures Team Research, serving as Principal Investigator on both. One is a $148,000 grant funding a multi-disciplinary, cross-university study employing qualitative methods to examine the experiences of formerly detained immigrants and their advocates; the goal is to understand the implications (health, legal, social) of U.S. Immigration Detention Centers. The second is a $10,000 grant to fund a multi-disciplinary, cross-national study, which will employ qualitative methods to examine the experiences of undocumented college students post COVID-19.
Assistant Professor Andrea Stevenson Won is Principal Investigator, with co-PIs Professor Poppy McLeod, Nina Lauharatanahirun, Diyi Yang, and Klimka Kasraie, on a new grant funded by the Office of Naval Research. Entitled “Identifying and Predicting Inflection Points in Human-Agent Teams Using Relational Event Modeling,” the $1,500,000 grant will fund the collaborators in identifying roles and modeling relationships between human and autonomy team members, using these models to enhance team members’ roles to improve team responses to critical events.
Honors
Senior Lecturer Lauren Chambliss received a Merrill Scholar Certificate of Recognition. The award acknowledges an outstanding educator who has influenced a Merrill Presidential Scholar.
Publications
Postdoctoral Associate Sarah Gilbert, Assistant Professor Nathan Matias, and Jo Lukito, May 2023, “Enabling Independent Research Without Unleashing Ethics Disasters,” Tech Policy Press. In their article, they highlight risks and threats to independent research as companies like Twitter limit access to their data. Drawing from interviews with internet researchers, they highlight existing solutions to privacy and ethics challenges and suggest solutions for future access to internet data.
Rebecca Chaleff, Senior Lecturer Michelle LaVigne, Kate Mattingly, May 2023, “What's Possible in Writing about Ballet?” Dance Magazine. In this op ed, the authors respond to an April 2023 New York Times article by dance critic Gia Kourlas. The authors argue that by promoting George Balanchine’s choreography as a practice of “freedom,” Kourlas fails to address the lived (and published) experiences of women who endured harmful and abusive practices under Balanchine's direction at New York City Ballet. The article concludes by questioning Kourlas's ability to write about the patriarchal and racial suffering of ballet's past within the shifting context of ballet in the 21st Century.
Assistant Professor Nathan Matias, May 2023, “Humans and Algorithms Work Together—So Study Them Together,” Nature. Adaptive algorithms can deliver widespread benefits to society, and their harms will at some point become manageable. Nathan argues that this can only happen if algorithms are designed and governed with reliable research.
Research Intern Carolina Sotério, “Bruce Lewenstein: A Fundamental Lesson Is to Recognize the Importance of Public Discussion for the Progress of Science,” May 2023, ComCiência (the magazine of the Brazilian Society for the Progress of Science). In this interview, published in both English and Portuguese, Carolina interviews Bruce about the intricate dynamics among science, media, and society during the challenging times of the Covid-19 crisis.
