CSSI researcher affiliates Ken Brown and Brian An recently purchased 10 questions through CSSI's SurveyHarvest initiative. Results from the survey of 1,000 U.S. adults yielded surprising results as to how people are using artificial intelligence tools in their personal and professional lives, prompting a drive to dive deeper. Read about the findings from Iowa Capital Dispatch.

The spring 2026 calendar for CSSI's Social Science Methods Series has been announced! The semester will kick off with a workshop on research data management essentials with Brian Westra, data services librarian. Other workshop topics include network analysis, factor analysis, data visualization in Stata, longitudinal modeling, geospatial data analysis in R, python, and Large Language Models (LLM). Take a look at the full Spring 2026 workshop lineup.  

The Center for Social Science Innovation seeks UI faculty to apply for Surveying the Social World. Selected researchers will have the opportunity to submit up to 35 survey questions to a nationally representative sample of 1,000 U.S. adults. As part of the award, CSSI will fully subsidize the survey costs and provide end-to-end survey support. Apply by March 2nd, 2026.

Ethan Kutlu, assistant professor of communication sciences and disorders in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and CSSI researcher affiliate, recently published a study tracking how school-aged children categorize speech sounds. His research supports new evidence that speech categorization continues to evolve beyond the first year of life, extending into elementary school years and becoming more refined.

CSSI researcher affiliate Haelim Jeong, assistant professor in the School of Social Work, studies suicide prevention, including suicidal ambivalence—the co-occurring desire to live and to die—among suicide attempt survivors. Jeong was also recently selected to be part of a research collaboration supported by CSSI’s Research Convergence Residency Program to explore loneliness, sleep disruption, and the use of AI chatbots such as ChatGPT for mental health support.

Two University of Iowa faculty members have been awarded proposal-development support through the Center for Social Science Innovation’s (CSSI) Grant Writing Residency Program (GWRP), a competitive initiative designed to help advance high-quality, externally funded research in the social sciences.

David Greenwood-Sanchez, assistant professor in the Department of Political Science, is working on a series of nationally representative surveys that aim to capture the practices and motivations of front yard gardeners. He wants to know where the line is between plants that are acceptable and unacceptable so he can inform change.

The Center for Social Science Innovation and the Office of the Vice President for Research are exploring the renewal of an institutional membership with the Central Plains Federal Statistical Research Data Center. The membership would provide UI researchers access to a wide range of restricted-use federal datasets at the Iowa Federal Statistical Research Data Center in Ames. Learn more about the membership and submit an interest form by Jan. 31, 2026.

The Center for Social Science Innovation seeks tenure-track faculty in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences to apply for its Faculty Research Fellowship. Fellows receive one course buyout, a $1000 credit toward CSSI research services, and an office at the Social Sciences Research Building to collaborate closely with CSSI staff. Apply by January 12, 2026.

In a nation confronting one the highest rates of traffic accidents in Europe, the simple act of crossing the street is a critical public health challenge. This issue is the driving force behind the work of Patricia Marga, a PhD Student in public health from Romania. Marga's research brought her to the University of Iowa this fall as an Obermann International Fellow in the Social Sciences. The fellowship was co-sponsored by CSSI.