REU Site: Computational Social Science

University Of Notre Dame, Notre Dame IN

Investigators

Abstract

This project is funded from the Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) Sites program in the Directorate for Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences (SBE) and is co-funded by SBE's Science of Science and Innovation (SciSIP) program. The project has both scientific and societal benefits and integrates research and education. This award promotes the progress of social science discoveries through the application of advanced computational (computer) applications to solve problems of national interest such as personality analysis (psychology), interpersonal networks (sociology), family savings (economics) and interdisciplinary perspectives on equality and diversity. Broader impacts will include the critical advancement of education in computational social science as identified in the Presidential Information Technology Advisory Committee report and development of the nation's future social scientists. The program's engagement of underrepresented groups and the opportunities for interaction with high school students and international research peers will have a broad impact in their professional STEM development. The program will involve 10 students every summer, and each will spend 10 weeks at the University of Notre Dame working alongside faculty mentors from the University of Notre Dame and nearby Saint Mary's College. This award renews an REU Site at the Center for Research Computing (CRC) at the University of Notre Dame; an ideal setting for the REU student to become familiar with interdisciplinary computational social science research. The CRC provides access to research groups working across a diverse range of social science problems including (a) Data Mining Large-scale Educational Assessment Data, (b) Explorations on the Effects of Pervasive Networking on Social Relationships, (c) Effectiveness Analysis for Economic Opportunity Programs, and (d) Computational Modeling and Analysis of Global Social Dynamics. The social science students will learn how to use the most current cyberinfrastructure tools and receive training on fundamental scientific computing skills and techniques. Intellectual merit is grounded in four core areas of expertise: computational psychology, computational sociology, computational economics, and cyberinfrastructure development for the social sciences. The program will give students and faculty participants a chance to carry out collaborative, interdisciplinary research in the computational sciences. Students will become part of an interdisciplinary team and will experience the rewards of scientific collaboration. For faculty, the REU program offers an opportunity to explore novel research areas and form new collaborations. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.