The Lab

The lab develops computational and statistical methods (machine learning, network analysis, natural language processing, AI, and causal inference) and applies them to policymaking and digital communication with public officials. Our work has been funded by the National Science Foundation, the Russell Sage Foundation, and the Hewlett Foundation.

Current students

Lingyu (Jack) Fuca

Ph.D. student, Political Science

Estimates causal effects in complex social networks, combining causal inference, network analysis, machine learning and formal theory to separate social influence from homophily.

Kadir Cihan Duran

Ph.D. candidate, Political Science and Social Data Analytics

Studies competitive authoritarian regimes and social media, using network analysis, deep neural networks and natural language processing.

Jody Park

Ph.D. student, Political Science

Studies racial and ethnic diversity in U.S. federal agencies and how it shapes agency ideology and institutional outcomes, using administrative data.

Nicholas Hemauer

Ph.D. candidate, Political Science and Social Data Analytics

Studies policy diffusion, state public health policy and political misinformation, including how firearm mortality shapes the adoption of firearm regulations.

Connor Stitt

Ph.D. student, Political Science

Estimates elite and mass ideology with tools from computational neuroscience and network analysis.

Y

Yue (Emily) Wang

Ph.D. student, Political Science

Joined the lab in fall 2026.

Where our Ph.D. alumni are now

• Nitheesha Nakka (Ph.D. 2025): Professional Specialist for Data and Statistics, Niehaus Center, Princeton University
• Sangyeon Kim (Ph.D. 2023): Postdoctoral Scholar, Observatory on Social Media, Indiana University
• Ishita Gopal (Ph.D. 2023): Postdoctoral Researcher, Transdisciplinary Institute in Applied Data Sciences, Washington University in St. Louis
• Taegyoon Kim (Ph.D. 2022): Assistant Professor, School of Digital Humanities and Computational Social Sciences, KAIST
• Omer Yalcin (Ph.D. 2021): Faculty Fellow, Data Analytics and Computational Social Science, UMass Amherst
• Matt Denny (Ph.D. 2019): Staff Research Scientist, Meta; Adjunct Professor, Georgetown University
• Ted Hsuan Yun Chen (Ph.D. 2019): Assistant Professor
• Fridolin Linder (Ph.D. 2018): Research Scientist and Software Engineer, Meta
• Zachary Jones (Ph.D. 2017): Senior Data Scientist, Amazon

Former postdocs

• Howard Liu: Assistant Professor of Political Science, University of South Carolina
• Medha Uppala: Senior Statistician, Westat
• Yuehong Cassandra Tai: Assistant Research Professor and Assistant Director, Center for Social Data Analytics, Penn State
• Isaac Pollert: Assistant Teaching Professor of Political Science, Penn State

Funding

The lab's research is supported by the National Science Foundation, the Russell Sage Foundation, and the Hewlett Foundation.

National Science Foundation

• NSF Award Number SES-2446647. “Collaborative Research: Georelational Dynamics in Collective Action,” effective 09/15/2025; $162,395
• NSF Award Number SES-2449569. “Collaborative Research: Belief Systems Governing Climate Adaptation Behaviors: Inference, Analysis, and Intervention,” effective 06/01/2025; $148,477
• NSF Award Number SES-2318460. “Collaborative Research: HNDS-I: Digitally Accountable Public Representation,” effective 09/01/2023; $649,380. PI with Sarah Rajtmajer and Kevin Munger, Co-PIs
• NSF Award Number SES- 2148215. “Collaborative Research: Patterns, Context, and Secondary Impacts of State Policy Responses to the Pandemic,” effective 07/01/2022; $366,181
• NSF Award Number SES- 2028675. “RAPID: Collaborative Research: The Diffusion of State Policy Responses to the 2019 Novel Coronavirus,” effective 05/15/2020; $16,417
• NSF Award Number SES-1637089. “RIDIR: Collaborative Research: DAPPR: Diffusion Analytics for Public Policy Research” effective October 1, 2016 and expires September 30, 2019. Penn State total: $142,425
• NSF Award Number SES-1558661. “Collaborative Research: An Expanded Framework for Inferring Public Policy Diffusion Networks.” Effective June 15, 2016 and expires May 31, 2018. Penn State total: $178,953
• NSF Award Number SES-1357606. “Collaborative Research: Specification and Estimation of Exponential Family Random Graph Models for Weighted Networks.” effective April 15, 2014 and expires April 14, 2015. UMass Amherst total: $29,983
• NSF Award Number CISE-1320219. “Organizational Responsiveness to Open Outside Input: A Modeling Approach based on Statistical Text and Network Analysis.” effective September 1, 2013 and expires August 31, 2016. Co-PI with Hanna Wallach (UMass Amherst; PI). Total: $499,326
• NSF Award Number SES-1360104. “Scientific Evidence in Regulation and Governance.” effective May 1, 2014 and expires May 1, 2017. PI with John Hird (UMass Amherst; Co-PI). Total: $527,233

Russell Sage Foundation

• Russell Sage Foundation. “The Revolving Door in Financial Regulation: Elite Networks and the Consequences of Unequal Access on Policymaking.” effective January 01, 2015 and expires December 31, 2015. UMass Total: $77,658

Photo: Beyond My Ken, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

Hewlett Foundation

Hewlett Foundation

• Hewlett Foundation. “Task Force Funds.” effective October 15, 2015 and expires October 14, 2016. Penn State total: $77,658

Prospective students

I advise Ph.D. students in Political Science and the dual-title program in Social Data Analytics at Penn State. If you are interested in policy diffusion, networks, AI, or digital politics, apply to one of these programs and mention my lab in your statement. You are welcome to email me with a short description of your interests.