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Our Researcher Affiliates
Explore our researcher affiliates' recent publications
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UI researchers explore how social work students can aid public library staff
Tuesday, August 12, 2025
Written by
Two Center for Social Science Innovation (CSSI) researcher affiliates, Megan Gilster and Iulian Vamanu, have published a recent study that explores how collaborations between social work students and public libraries can support library staff's professional and personal needs.
CSSI researcher affiliate Amy Colbert connects employee mood and significance of job duties
Tuesday, April 15, 2025
Written by
Amy Colbert, researcher affiliate in the Center for Social Science Innovation (CSSI), has published a recent study that links changes in employees’ mood with how important they perceive their job’s tasks.
CSSI researcher affiliate Amber Joy Powell investigates sexual violence towards incarcerated youth
Tuesday, March 25, 2025
Written by
Amber Joy Powell, researcher affiliate in the Center for Social Science Innovation (CSSI), has published a recent study examining the sexual violence incarcerated youth faced within state institutions through first-hand accounts of the harm.
Meet Our Affiliates
Spirituality: The newest prescription from CSSI researcher affiliate Katherine Britt
Center for Social Science Innovation
This article is part of a series that features CSSI researcher affiliates. Continue reading to learn about Katherine Britt, assistant professor in the College of Nursing.
CSSI researcher affiliate Caglar Koylu traces movement across time and space
Center for Social Science Innovation
This article is part of a series that profiles CSSI researcher affiliates. These profiles reveal the person behind the research, spotlighting their personal and academic trajectories and what they love about conducting research. Continue reading to discover how Caglar Koylu uses handcrafted methodologies to study geographical and social phenomena, including movement across the American frontier.
CSSI researcher affiliate Sarah Nash unravels the complexity of cancer
Center for Social Science Innovation
This article is part of a series that profiles CSSI researcher affiliates. These profiles reveal the person behind the research, spotlighting their personal and academic trajectories and what they love about conducting research. Continue reading to learn how Sarah Nash documents health disparities – particularly in cancer care – by prioritizing the voices of the communities under study.
CSSI researcher affiliate Samantha Zuhlke explores relationships between non-profits, the government, and the public
Center for Social Science Innovation
This article is part of a series that profiles CSSI researcher affiliates. These profiles reveal the person behind the research, spotlighting their personal and academic trajectories and what they love about conducting research. Continue reading to learn how Samantha Zuhlke explores institutional relationships and how the public fits in.
CSSI researcher affiliate Elizabeth Menninga applies math to civil wars
Center for Social Science Innovation
This article is part of a series that profiles CSSI researcher affiliates. These profiles reveal the person behind the research, spotlighting their personal and academic trajectories and what they love about conducting research. Continue reading to learn about Elizabeth Menninga's unconventional journey to mathematically investigating the mediation of civil wars.
CSSI researcher affiliate Katharine Broton pursues solutions to barriers in higher education
Center for Social Science Innovation
This article is part of a series that profiles CSSI researcher affiliates. These profiles reveal the person behind the research, spotlighting their personal and academic trajectories and what they love about conducting research. Continue reading to learn how Katharine Broton helps students in higher education meet their basic needs.
CSSI researcher affiliate Patrick Barlow integrates social science and medicine
Center for Social Science Innovation
This article is part of a series that profiles CSSI researcher affiliates. These profiles reveal the person behind the research, spotlighting their personal and academic trajectories and what they love about conducting research. Continue reading to learn how Patrick Barlow uses social science knowledge to address diverse medical dilemmas.
CSSI researcher affiliate Bogdan Kapatsila paves a road for sustainable and equitable transportation
Center for Social Science Innovation
This article is part of a new series that profiles CSSI researcher affiliates. These profiles reveal the person behind the research, spotlighting their personal and academic trajectories and what they love about conducting research. Continue reading to learn how Bogdan Kapatsila studies transportation systems and their influence on people's travel behavior and well-being.
CSSI researcher affiliate Brian Ekdale peels back the surface of digital media
Center for Social Science Innovation
This article is part of a new series that profiles CSSI researcher affiliates. These profiles reveal the person behind the research, spotlighting their personal and academic trajectories and what they love about conducting research. Continue reading to discover how Brian Ekdale peels back the surface of digital media to understand people's experience and perception of the world.
CSSI researcher affiliate Bingbing Zhang examines how media messages can promote scientific and political literacy
Center for Social Science Innovation
This article is part of a new series that profiles CSSI researcher affiliates. These profiles reveal the person behind the research, spotlighting their personal and academic trajectories and what they love about conducting research. Continue reading to learn more about how Bingbing Zhang studies the relationship between media messages and scientific and political literacy.
Seongjoon Ahn, PhD
Title/Position
Researcher Affiliate
Assistant Professor, Department of Political Science
Research Areas: Democratic Backsliding; Conceptions of Democracy; Political Behavior; Public Opinion
Brian An, PhD
Title/Position
Researcher Affiliate
Associate Professor, Department of Educational Policy and Leadership Studies
Research Areas: College Choice; Dual Enrollment; College Impacts; Digital Self-Harm; Bullying
Jerry Anthony, PhD
Title/Position
Researcher Affiliate
Associate Professor, School of Planning and Public Affairs
Research Areas: Housing Policy; Housing Costs and Affordability; Effects of High Housing Costs on Economic Development; Effects of High Housing Costs on Public Health; Land Use Planning; Sustainable Development
Patrick Barlow, PhD
Title/Position
Researcher Affiliate
Clinical Associate Professor, Department of Internal Medicine
Research Areas: Survey Research; Program Evaluation; Psychometrics; Medical Education; Text Analysis
Nicholas Bowman, PhD
Title/Position
Researcher Affiliate
Professor, Department of Educational Policy and Leadership Studies
Research Areas: College Students; Student Success; Educational Interventions; College Rankings; College Admissions
Katherine C. Britt, RN, PhD
Title/Position
Researcher Affiliate
Assistant Professor, Gerontological Nursing
Research Areas: Spiritual and Religious Activities; Dementia; Caregivers; Cognitive Health
Katharine M. Broton, PhD
Title/Position
Researcher Affiliate
Associate Professor, Department of Educational Policy and Leadership Studies
Research Areas: Sociology of Education; Social Stratification; Higher Education Policy
Kenneth Brown, PhD
Title/Position
Researcher Affiliate
Professor, Educational Policy & Leadership Studies
Professor, Management & Entrepreneurship
Research Areas: Workplace Training and Learning; Higher Education
Colin Case, PhD
Title/Position
Researcher Affiliate
Assistant Professor, Department of Political Science
Research Areas: Elections, Congress, Text Analysis
David Cassels Johnson, PhD
Title/Position
Researcher Affiliate
Professor, Department of Teaching and Learning
Research Areas: Language Policy; Critical Discourse Studies; ESL and Bilingual Education; Education Policy
Amy Colbert, PhD
Title/Position
Researcher Affiliate
Distinguished Chair and Professor, Department of Management & Entrepreneurship
Research Areas: Leadership; Motivation; Identity; Social Impact, Interpersonal Relationships
Aislinn Conrad, PhD, MSW
Title/Position
Researcher Affiliate
Associate Professor, School of Social Work
Research Areas: Ethical AI & Violence Prevention; Child Welfare & Maltreatment Prevention; Economic Hardship & Social Policy
Ece Demir-Lira, PhD
Title/Position
Researcher Affiliate
Assistant Professor, Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences
Research Areas: Parent-child Interaction, Neurodevelopment, Socio-economic Status, Cognitive Neuroscience, Academic Development
Abbey Dvorak, PhD
Title/Position
Researcher Affiliate
Associate Professor, School of Music
Research Areas: Music Therapy; Mindfulness; Mental Health; Neurodegeneration
Brian Ekdale, PhD
Title/Position
Researcher Affiliate
Associate Professor, School of Journalism and Mass Communication
Research Areas: Media; Algorithms; Global Production
Megan Gilster, MSW, PhD
Title/Position
Researcher Affiliate
Associate Professor, School of Social Work
Research Areas: Housing Insecurity; Communities; Participation; Neighborhood Social Organization
David Greenwood-Sanchez, PhD
Title/Position
Researcher Affiliate
Assistant Professor, Department of Political Science
Research Areas: Environment; Agricultural Policy; Latin America; Survey Research
Cara Hamann, PhD, MPH
Title/Position
Researcher Affiliate
Associate Professor, Department of Epidemiology
Research Areas: Injury Epidemiology; Transportation Safety; Injury Prevention
Kristi Hendrickson, PhD
Title/Position
Researcher Affiliate
Associate Professor, Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders
Research Areas: Psycholinguistics, Language development, Neurolinguistics
Sarah Hofmeyer, PhD
Title/Position
Researcher Affiliate
Assistant Professor, School of Planning and Public Affairs
Research Areas: Sustainable Community Food Systems; Administrative Burdens; Urban Affairs and Planning; Hazard Mitigation
Chelsea Howland, PhD, RN
Title/Position
Researcher Affiliate
Assistant Professor, College of Nursing
Research Areas: Type 2 Diabetes Self Management; Diabetes Precision Phenotyping; Physical Activity Behavior Change; Rural Health; Digital Health Technology
Nathaniel Jenkins, PhD
Title/Position
Researcher Affiliate
Associate Professor, Department of Health, Sport, and Human Physiology
Research Areas: Early Life Adversity; Psychosocial Stress; Cardiovascular; Mitochondrial Psychobiology; Endothelial Biology
Haelim Jeong, PhD, LICSW
Title/Position
Researcher Affiliate
Assistant Professor, School of Social Work
Research Areas: Suicide Prevention; Suicidal Ambivalence; Mental Health; Qualitative Research
DeShauna Jones, PhD
Title/Position
Researcher Affiliate
Assistant Director, Engagement, Integration, and Implementation
Research Areas: Qualitative Research; Mixed Methods Research; Evaluation; Maternal health; Substance use
Bogdan Kapatsila, PhD
Title/Position
Researcher Affiliate
Assistant Professor, School of Planning and Public Affairs
Research Areas: Travel Behavior; Sustainable Transportation Modes; Transport and Land Use
Myung Jung Kim, PhD
Title/Position
Researcher Affiliate
Assistant Professor, Department of Political Science
Research Areas: International Law; Human Rights; Armed Conflicts; Cross-border Crimes; Transnational Justice
Sang Jung Kim, PhD
Title/Position
Researcher Affiliate
Assistant Professor, School of Journalism and Mass Communication
Research Areas: Journalism, Misinformation, Artificial Intelligence, Visual Politics, Political Communication
Caglar Koylu, PhD
Title/Position
Researcher Affiliate
Associate Professor, School of Earth, Environment, and Sustainability
Research Areas: Geographic Information Science; Cartography and Geovisualization; Spatial Analysis and Statistics; Human Mobility; Social Networks
Ethan Kutlu, PhD
Title/Position
Researcher Affiliate
Assistant Professor, Department of Psychology and Brain Sciences and Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders
Research Areas: Psycholinguistics; Bilingualism; Network Science; Speech Perception
Julie Lee, PhD
Title/Position
Researcher Affiliate
Assistant Professor, Department of Health Management and Policy
Research Areas: Workforce; Healthcare; Aging; Employee Work-Family Balance; Negotiation
Allison Levine, PhD
Title/Position
Researcher Affiliate
Assistant Professor, Department of Counselor Education
Research Areas: Anti-Oppressive and Social Justice Pedagogies; Disability Biases; and Socially Just Student Assessment in Counselor Education
Duhita Mahatmya, PhD
Title/Position
Researcher Affiliate
Assistant Professor, Learning Sciences and Educational Psychology
Research Areas: Positive Youth Development; Social Emotional Learning; Family Resilience; Research Methods
Jamil Marques, PhD
Title/Position
Researcher Affiliate
Associate Professor, School of Journalism and Mass Communication
Research Areas: Political Communication; Public Opinion; Journalism; Latin America; Knowledge Production
Jenny McDonnell, PhD
Title/Position
Researcher Affiliate
Assistant Professor, Department of Health Management and Policy
Research Areas: Medical Sociology; Qualitative Research Methods; Access to Health Care Technologies; Clinician Decision Making; Organizational Theory
Daniel McGehee, PhD
Title/Position
Researcher Affiliate
Professor, Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering
Research Areas: Vehicle Safety Policy; Driver Performance and Response; Crash Analysis, Automated Driving
Sara McLaughlin Mitchell, PhD
Title/Position
Researcher Affiliate
Professor, Department of Political Science
Research Areas: Conflict; Institutions; International Law; Environment
Elizabeth Menninga, PhD
Title/Position
Researcher Affiliate
Associate Professor, Department of Political Science
Research Areas: Civil War; Conflict Resolution; Social Network Analysis
Sylvia Mikucki-Enyart, PhD
Title/Position
Researcher Affiliate
Associate Professor, Department of Communication Studies
Research Areas: Relational Uncertainty, Uncertainty Management, Communication Goals, Family Relationships, Sexual Communication
Jane Miller, PhD
Title/Position
Researcher Affiliate
Clinical Associate Professor, Department of Family and Community Medicine
Research Areas: Learner Assessment; Coaching; Medical Simulation
Rishab Nithyanand, PhD
Title/Position
Researcher Affiliate
Assistant Professor, Department of Computer Science
Research Areas: Platform Algorithms; Privacy; Social Computing; Internet Measurement
Julianna Pacheco, PhD
Title/Position
Researcher Affiliate
Chair and Professor, Department of Political Science
Research Areas: Population Health; Political Determinants of Health; Political Behavior; Voting; Polarization
Isaac Petersen, PhD
Title/Position
Researcher Affiliate
Associate Professor, Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences
Research Areas: Developmental Psychopathology; Externalizing Behavior Problems; Self-regulation; School Readiness; Clinical Child Psychology
Elise Pizzi, PhD
Title/Position
Researcher Affiliate
Associate Professor, Department of Political Science
Research Areas: Development, Public Goods Provision, Hazard Response and Mitigation, Ethnic Politics, Environmental Politics
Amber Joy Powell, PhD
Title/Position
Researcher Affiliate
Assistant Professor, Department of Sociology and Criminology
Research Areas: Crime, Law, and Social Control; Gender, Law, and Justice; Race, Crime, and Justice
Heather Reisinger, PhD
Title/Position
Researcher Affiliate
Professor, Internal Medicine
Research Areas: Implementation Science; Ethnographic Methods; Telemedicine; Community-Engaged Scholarship
Ashley Rila, PhD
Title/Position
Researcher Affiliate
Clinical Assistant Professor, Department of Teaching and Learning
Research Areas: Emotional Behavioral Disorders; Educator Burnout; Special Education
Meghan Rogers, PhD
Title/Position
Researcher Affiliate
Assistant Professor, Department of Sociology and Criminology
Research Areas: Cross-national Crime; Measurement of Crime and Its Correlates; Quantitative Research Methods; Criminological Theory; Social Structures and Crime
Allison Rowe, PhD
Title/Position
Researcher Affiliate
Assistant Professor, Department of Teaching and Learning
Research Areas: Art Education; Community Engaged Art; Arts-based Research; Arts Integration; Socially Engaged Art
Aynsley Scheffert, PhD, LICSW
Title/Position
Researcher Affiliate
Assistant Professor, School of Social Work
Research Areas: Organizational Interventions to Address Workers' Mental and Occupational Health; Coping and Stress; Mental and Behavioral Health; Occupational Health
Aaron Seaman, PhD
Title/Position
Researcher Affiliate
Assistant Professor, Department of Internal Medicine
Research Areas: Qualitative Methods; Implementation Science; Cancer; Chronic Disease