SISRM Report 2022 by SISRM

SISRM REPORT 2022 Connecting students to research opportunities

2 Paul AssociateFacultyPoastDirectorProfessor, Political Science Jamie Gentry Senior Program Manager Connie ProgramChenand Communications Assistant Olina MetcalfLiangIntern Summer Communications Catherine Rock Graduate Program Assistant Jessica GraduateSullivanProgram Assistant COVER PHOTO SISRM Fellows engage with an exhibit at Mindworks: The Science of Thinking TABLE OF CONTENTS María del Pilar Ferreira Program Coordinator 3 RA Program Review 3 Chicago State University Partnership 5 SISRM Initatives 7 Course Overview 8 Course Descriptions 10 Practice of Social Science Research Workshop 11 Workshop Descriptions 14 Appendix: Faculty Research Projects 16 2022 Fellow Profiles

SISRM fellows view works in the Arts of the Americas 1860-1950 gallery at the Art Institute of Chicago.

Figure 1: SISRM RA program growth from a diversity of field backgrounds: the 2022 cohort represented 27 unique major from the biological sciences, the humanities, the physical sciences, and the social sciences. Summer Funding SISRM increased its summer stipends from $4,500 to $5,000 in order to offset the cost of course tuition and the rising cost of living. In total, SISRM funded $420,000 in RA stipends (up from $248,000 in Summer 2021).

Since 2020 the Social Sciences Division has been working to build partnerships with our southside neighbors, including Chicago State University (CSU), a public university located in Chicago’s Roseland neighborhood. This mutually beneficial partnership, which is recognized by the University and slated for an MOU, is critical to the University’s mission to be of benefit to and to benefit from our southside neighbors. In Summer 2022 the SSD and SISRM welcomed its inaugural cohort of 5 visiting CSU students to campus. We will build on the 2022 program’s success by offering 5-10 fully-funded program seats in 2023.

The Summer Institute in Social Research Methods (SISRM) connects undergraduate students to the core research mission of the Division of Social Sciences. Through our program, students develop methodological skills and gain first-hand experience in research with faculty experts across the University. As a result, students exit our program with refined skills in critical analysis that can be applied to myriad career and academic pursuits.

The 2022 cohort included UChicago SISRMStatestudentsofprogramparticipatingundergraduatesintheRAfellowsandaninauguralcohort5visitingundergraduatefromChicagoUniversity.RAscontinuetocome

0 20 40 60 80 100 a productive summer, SISRM has once more applied to receive CCIF support for 25 awards in the 2022-23 academic year.

2022202020192021

2022 SISRM RAs After two years of virtual programming, SISRM 2022 welcomed 84 RAs and 62 faculty members (Appendix) to its new hybrid format: a mixture of inperson and virtual classrooms, inperson workshops with streaming options, and flexible RAships. To date, SISRM has supported 228 funded Research Assistantships with 113 members of the campus research community (Figure 1).

Continued Academic Year Funding Faculty demand for AY funding for RAs continues to rise. SISRM applied for College Curricular Innovation Funds (CCIF) in 2020 and awarded 15 student/faculty pairings for 2020-21 academic year support ($22,500). That number increased to 23 CCIFsupported student/faculty pairings in the 2021-22 academic year ($54,000 in support). After

Chicago UniversityStatePartnership

MAJORS StatisticsSociologyPublicPsychologyPre-NursingPoliticalPhilosophyNeuroscienceMathematicsLinguisticsLatinHistoryHIPSGlobalEnvironmentalEnglishEconomicsEconomicsEconomicsDataCriminalCreativeComputerComputationalComparativeCinemaBiologicalArtAnthropologyHistorySciencesandMediaStudiesHumanDevelopmentandAppliedMathScienceWritingJusticeScience(Business)(DataScience)andUrbanStudiesStudiesAmericanandCaribbeanStudiesSciencePolicyStudies MINORS ArchitecturalArabic Studies Biological Sciences Computer Science Creative Writing Digital EducationStudiesand Society GeographicFrench Information Science Health and Society History, Philosophy, and Social Studies of VisualStatisticsMathHistoryScienceArts Declared majors and minors in the 2022 cohort of SISRM fellows SISRM fellows view a collection of 3D archives at the Chicago History Museum

Alumni Engagement

Student Body Growth

A point of pride for SISRM is the diversity of its students from race, to nationality, gender identity, and socioeconomics. In our program we aim to share with students the need to embrace that diversity: we want our fellows to be conscious of how diversity, or lack thereof, plays a role in how we study social science, from the questions posed to the interpretations offered. As such, SISRM’s initiatives in the new academic year include continued focus on expanding our student body. In addition to welcoming a cohort of Chicago State University students back for our 2023 program, SISRM intends to include a small cohort of students from Chicago’s City College’s and a cohort of students from The Insper Institute of Education and Research in Sao Paulo, Brazil.

5Initiatives

graduated. There is substantial opportunity for continued engagement with SISRM RAs. Not only do campus researchers frequently reach out to us to recruit our trained fellows, increasingly we receive external employment recruitment requests for our alumni. To ensure continued engagement and provide our fellows with continued exposure to professional potentiallyfor5engagementwhoendeavorsschoolinformationwithgraduatedanalumni,connectionInfocusedpracticesopportunities,whichofdevelopopportunities,developmentweintendtoandofferaseriesacademicyearprogramswillincludenetworkingresearchbestworkshops,andcareer-events.additiontomaintainingwithouron-campusSISRMwilldevelopengagementstrategyforalumni,beginningasurveythatwillcollectonjobandgraduateplacementsandresearchfromthe74fellowshavegraduated.Afullstrategyforthenextyearswillincludeopportunitiesalumnitonetworkwithandmentorfellowsinthe

annual SISRM cohorts. Funding The continued success of our program and its immense potential for growth is dependent upon the ability to provide adequate academic and financial support to students of all backgrounds. SISRM continues to explore opportunities to expand funding Consistentsupport.withour growth initiatives, and with support from the Division and the College, we are making preparations to apply for an NSF REU grant. This grant will primarily support external students who wish to attend the program. Furthermore, a successful pilot of our new archives course positions us to put together a funding proposal for the Mellon Foundation. A successful funding award would be used to reduce the cost of tuition for courses and to increase availability of stipends.

Devin Pope, Chicago Booth School of Business, presents to students during the Practice of Social Science Research Workshop

With 4 successful years of summer programming behind us, SISRM now has 227 program alumni, 153 of whom have not yet

2022

“ SISRM fellows in the Ryan Learning Center at the Art Institute of Chicago

SISRM is one of the smartest choices I’ve made. I’ve struggled to apply for research positions because it’s really hard when they want someone who already has experience. SISRM was a strategic choice, and thoroughly enjoyable.

Lily SISRMM.

In addition to SISRM Fellows, the methodological course enrollments include other University of Chicago undergraduate and graduate students, as well as non-degree visiting students and precollegiate students. Summer 2022 enrollments totaled 141 students (Figure 2). 2022 SISRM fellows made up 60% of total enrollments, a slight increase from 50% in 2021.

Courses

0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 Archival Methods and HistoricalugradThinkingSISRM fellowKey: other ugrad grad pre-collegiate or high school Computing for the SocialEconometricsSciences Introduction To GIS & Spatial Analysis Introductory Statistical Methods for the Social Sciences Psychological Research Methods Survey Data Analysis Virtual Ethnographic Research Methods Figure 2: SISRM enrollments by academic level

SISRM sponsored 8 methodological courses, including a new course, Archival Methods and Historical Thinking. SISRM courses are designed to fulfill curriculum requirements in numerous degree programs. As such, SISRM fellows choose their course based on their curricular needs and interests.

Alexander Hofmann Department of History New 2022

This course covers the single and multiple linear regression model, the associated distribution theory, and testing procedures; corrections for heteroskedasticity, autocorrelation, and simultaneous equations; and other extensions as time permits. Students also apply the techniques to a variety of data sets using PCs. The purpose of this course is to give a fundamental understanding of the liner regression model used on a variety of economic analysis. It also stresses the many issues that students may encounter when doing their own empirical analysis using the linear regression model as a tool.

Computational Social Sciences Econometrics Murilo Ramos

Computing for the Social Sciences Benjamin Soltoff

Kenneth C. Griffin Department of Economics

8 COURSES

Archival Methods & Historical Thinking

In this course, students will be introduced to archival research methods and to the ways in which historians work with and interpret the sources they use in constructing historical narratives and arguments. We will visit Special Collections, explore digital archives, and consider the range of possible sources and archives, from texts held in national government archives to material objects, maps, audio or video recordings, and everything in between. We will also engage with the work of historians as they seek to make sense of the material they find in archives, considering questions of interpretation, narrative, and holes–that is, what is missing from archives. Students will gain an understanding of the mechanics of archival work and an appreciation for the complexity of historical thinking.

This is an applied course for social scientists with little-to-no programming experience who wish to harness growing digital and computational resources. The focus of the course is on generating reproducible research through the use of programming languages and version control software. Major emphasis is placed on a pragmatic understanding of core principles of programming and packaged implementations of methods. Students will leave the course with basic computational skills implemented through many computational methods and approaches to social science; while students will not become expert programmers, they will gain the knowledge of how to adapt and expand these skills as they are presented with new questions, methods, and data.

Patrick

Lewis Department of Anthropology

This course provides an overview of how spatial thinking is translated into specific methods to handle geographic information and statistical analysis, with a focus on research questions relevant in the social sciences. Basics of cartography, spatial data wrangling, and the essential elements of spatial analysis are introduced within this context. to & Spatial Analysis Kolak Center for Spatial Data Science

Ledoux Department of Psychology Survey Data Analysis Jaesok Son Benjamin Schapiro NORC at the University of Chicago Virtual Ethnographic Research Methods

This course overviews the way scientific surveys are conducted, the survey data structure, and common techniques to analyze survey data. Students will explore the actual survey data (using major surveys such as the General Social Survey) and look for an swers to their research question. Students will learn where to find information about survey data sources and how to conduct analyses for their research proj ect. The course also introduces some Online tools and statistical software. This course is designed to provide students in the social sciences with a review of ethnographic research methods, exposure to major debates on ethnographic research, opportunities to try their hand at practicing fieldwork virtually, and feed back on a proposed study that employs ethno graphic methods. An emphasis will be placed on multimedia, digital, and virtual ethnography.

Committee on Quantitative Methods in Social, Behavioral, and Health Sciences Psychological Research Methods

This course introduces concepts and methods used in behavioral research. Topics include the nature of behavioral research, testing of research ideas, quantitative and qualitative techniques of data collection, artifacts in behavioral research, analyzing and interpreting research data, and ethical considerations in research.

Marynia

This course introduces and applies fundamental statistical concepts, principles, and procedures to the analysis of data in the social and behavioral sciences. Students will learn computation, interpretation, and application of commonly used descriptive and inferential statistical procedures as they relate to social and behavioral research. These include z-test, t-test, bivariate correlation and simple linear regression with an introduction to analysis of variance and multiple regression.

Yanyan Sheng

Kerry

The course emphasizes on understanding normal distributions, sampling distribution, hypothesis testing, and the relationship among the various techniques covered, and will integrate the use of SPSS as a software tool for these techniques.

Intro.

GIS

Introductory Statistical Methods & Applications for the Social Sciences

Workshops

The SISRM workshop resumed in-person lunchtime sessions for the 2022 program with topics that ranged from making the most of the library’s resources to applying to graduate school to understanding open data and open data sources.

As a supplement to their methodological coursework and the RA program, SISRM fellows begin their summer with a fiveweek co-curricular workshop series on the practice of social science research. This workshop series exposes fellows to research practices from a variety of disciplines, and gives them the opportunity to meaningfully engage with faculty and other campus experts in a small-group setting.

A new addition to the workshop, made possible by the return to in-person programming, was a series of off-campus excursions that explored how research works in a variety of professional environments. These excursions exposed students to examples of research career paths and industry experts, while also encouraging them to explore Chicago.

SISRM fellows at the Art Institute of Chicago

SISRM fellows received an inside-peek of how the AI uses research to create and market its exhibits from members of the creative team

Mindworks: The Science of Thinking Bringing behavioral science research to the public

SISRM fellows received a private tour of the 2D and 3D archives collections, and learned about how museums like CHM develop collections and make them available to the public for research.

accelerationparticleattheArgonneNationalLaboratory

WORKSHOPS

Art Institute of Chicago Experience, Marketing, and Technology Design

The Chicago History Museum Public-Facing Collections

SISRM Fellows learn about

The Mindworks exhibit provided SISRM fellows with the opportunity to see hypotheses tests, data collection, and research findings in action. Fellows were able to participate in research data collection as a group as well as individually through MIndworks-issued research surveys.

SISRM fellows received tours of the particle accelerator and the advanced photon source, and learned about Argonne (and UChicago’s) role in the study of nuclear energy.

Excursions

Exploring the Archives Due to the size of the facility, the Newberry Library provided SISRM fellows with two opportunities for engagement: Fellows enrolled in Archival Methods and Historical Thinking course visited their physical archives and learned how to navigate and use the collections, while the group as a whole received a virtual tour of the library, including a special peek into their extensive postcard collection.

The Newberry Library

The Argonne National Laboratory Connecting sciences to social sciences

A discussion of how disparate fields fit within the context of the social sciences and the advantages and disadvantages of interdisciplinary work. Mark Bradley, Department of History

Leslie Kay, Department of Psychology Social Science for Humanity: We Can’t ‘Tech’ Our Way Out of It Explored the value of social science research as it applies to solving Big Problems

Introduced tools, formats, and structures that ensure research is ethical, accessible, and easily interpreted.

WORKSHOPS

Cecilia Smith, Director of Digital Scholarship, Regenstein Library Data Sources and Text Mining

Rebecca Starkey, Head of Research and Instruction Services at Regenstein Library

Nick Currie, Assistant Director, Student Civic Engagement Initiatives

Paul Poast, Department of Political Science

Digital Scholarship

Starting your Research: Best Practices for Finding and Using Library Resources

Civic Engagement

Kathryn Cochran, Deputy Director of the writing program

Library Workshops

Daniel Clark, Program Director, Careers in Behavioral Sciences Professional Writing

Research Best Practices

Greg Fleming, Business and Economics Librarian Professional Development

An Introduction to the Social Sciences Panel: What do we mean when we say “social science research?”

These sessions introduced students to resources available to them for their research, and connected them to the librarians who support their major and minor programs.

This set of workshops addressed students’ experiences as community members, prospective graduate students, and future professionals.

Graduate School 101 Lindsey Weglarz, Assistant Dean of Students for Admission Transferring Your Skills: Turning your passion into a career

An Introduction to the IRB and Ethics of Research

Cheryl Danton, IRB Managing Director Tools for Visualizing Geospatial Data, Big and Small: Finding and Making Use of Open Data FormatsSources to Publish Data Findings and User Exploration Dylan Halpern, Senior Software Engineer, Center for Spatial Data Science

13 Faculty Chalk Talks Spotlights UChicago faculty members’ personal research pursuits and their approaches to disciplinary methods Rene Flores, Department of Sociology Who are the ‘Immigrants’?: How Whites’ Diverse Perceptions of Immigrants Shape their Attitudes Scott Gehlbach, Department of Political Science Why are they burning down the pub? Alessandra Gonzalez, Department of Economics Sourcing Data for Research Ada Palmer, Department of History Material History Devin Pope, Booth School of Business Behavioral Economics Ada fromhumancanandmaterialpresentationduringwithantiquediscussesHistory,Palmer,anbookstudentsaonhistorywhatwelearnaboutdecisionsobjects. “SISRM has helped me come up with ideas about how I can more specifically approach my interests. This program demonstratedhas inspiring.inbe,socialinterdisciplinaryhowthesciencescaninresearchandtherealworld.It’s Christina B. SISRM 2022

Anne Henly Psychology Civic Virtues and Wisdom Marc Hernandez NORC Early Childhood Survey and Assessment Development and Data Analysis

A Spatiotemporal Network Analysis of Crime Diffusion

Jane Dailey History The Neglected History of Interracial Democracy in the United States Milena Djourelova MediaEconomicsFraming and Judicial Decisions

Giovanni Compiani UChicago Booth School of Business Dynamics of New Product Adoption

Comparative Human Development Invoking Islam: Women’s Strategies for Navigating Patriarchy Mike Albertus Political Science How We Landed in Modernity

Comparative Human Development

James Heckman Economics Preparing for Life Home Visiting Research Project

Susan Goldin-Meadow Psychology The communication of social thought through non-verbal gesture

Laura Finch NORC Social Connections and Health

Margaret Beale Spencer

Comparative Human Development Analyzing Patterns in Children’s Everyday Manual Activities Elizabeth Chatterjee History Fuel Riots in History

Susan Goldin-Meadow Psychology The role parents play in shaping their children’s language Pradeep Chinatagunta UChicago Booth School of Business Multi-category Searches in Online Shopping Alexandra Ciomek Political Science

APPENDIX / FACULTY RESEARCH

Megan Huisingh-Scheetz

NORC Validation of remote, selfadministered wearable sensormeasures functional assessments in a national study Ariel Kalil Harris School of Public Policy About TIME

14 Eman Abdelhadi

Christopher Clapp Harris School of Public Policy

Robert Gulotty Political Science Clustered Decline: Regional Politics and Subsidies

Primed to (re)act: Can changes in procedural language prevent adverse events between police and minority male youth? Fredrik Albritton Jonsson History Fossil Futures: the rise of the Coal Economy 1750-1900 Luc Anselin CenterSociologyfor Spatial Data Studies

Empirical Evaluation of 2D and 3D Movement Visualization Designs Kate Cagney Through the Neubauer Collegium for Culture and Society Black Wall Street Journey Marisa Casillas

Alessandra Gonzalez EconomicsEconomics of Gender in International Contexts

Trans-Atlantic Crossings: Everyday Race in the 20th-Century Atlantic World Crystal Bae Center for Spatial Data Science

Katherine Kinzler Psychology Development of Social Cognition

Matthew Furlong Pozen Family Center for Human Rights Human Rights in a New Key: A Pozen Center Podcast Marco Garrido Sociology The debate over democracy in China

Leora Auslander History

Tori Gross MAPSS Of Mountains and Men: national, racial, and economic politics of alpine skiing

Historical Landscapes of the Sandawe Homeland, Central Tanzania Susan Lambert Crown Family School of Social Work, Policy, and Practice The Implementation of Work Scheduling Regulation by Frontline Business Managers

An Evaluation of U.S. Disaster Response Policy: The BP Oil Spill Ellen Compernolle NORC Chicago Health and Activity in RealTime (CHART)

Spatial Data Analysis and Scientific Reasoning Evelyn Atkinson History 19th Century Newspaper Research

Matthew Knisley Environmental and Urban Studies

Casey Mulligan Economics Substance abuse and mortality Vesall Nourani Economics Rural Education for Development: Evidence from FUNDAEC’s Tutorial Learning System in Colombia

A new method for measuring state capacity in Africa

Spatially Extended Treatment Effect Analysis of Access to MOUD Resources and Changing Policies Ada Palmer History History of Censorship Raymond Lodato Environmental and Urban Studies

15 research113studenthasToongoingonUChicagotoprogramparticipatingUndergraduatesinthearematchedworkasRAswithfacultyanassortmentofprojects.date,SISRMsupported227RAshipswithmembersofthecommunity.AnthropologyArtHistoryBiologicalSciencesBoothSchoolofBusinessCenterforLatinAmericanStudies(CLAS)CenterforSpatialDataScienceChicagoProjectonSecurity&Threats(CPOST)ComparativeHumanDevelopmentComputationalSocialScienceCrownFamilySchoolofSocialWork,Policy,andPracticeEconomicsEnvironmentalandUrbanStudiesHarrisSchoolofPublicPolicyHistoryLinguisticsMansuetoInstituteMAPSSNeubauerCollegiumforCultureandSocietyNORCPoliticalSciencePozenFamilyCenterforHumanRightsProgramontheGlobalEnvironmentPsychologySmartMuseumofArtSociology Unit

James Robinson Harris School for Public Policy

Sabina Shaikh Environmental and Urban Studies Becoming Urban: Understanding the Urban Transformation of Migrants to Phnom Penh Jaesok Son NORC General Social Survey (GSS)

Emily Talen SSD; Urbanism Lab Tracking density and affordability changes in Chicago’s transit serviced neighborhoods Robert Vargas Sociology Dark Money in Policing

RESEARCH PROJECTS

Esteban Rossi-Hansberg Economics The Economic Geography of Global Warming Diana Schwartz-Francisco CLAS Indigenous Politics in 20th-century Mexico Alex Shaw Psychology Communication and social norms Fan Yang Psychology Valued or Condemned: Evaluations of Nonconformity Yu Zhang Psychology Relations among parent math relational language, math attitudes, and child math achievement

Onward, Not Upward: Institutional Constraints and African-American Advancement in Chicago

Jonathan Lyon History The Medieval Holy Roman Empire: An Introduction

Jeremy Pearce Economics Reallocation, Market Concentration and Innovation Burcu Pinar CPOST Law & Order in Counterinsurgency: The Link between Insurgent Group Characteristics & The Use of Domestic Law Enforcement Benjamin Lessing Political Science Criminal Governance in the Americas

Representation

Qinyun Lin Center for Spatial Data Science

Molly Offer-Westrot Political Science Chatbot platform for Facebook Messenger research studies

Stina (class of 2024) is a research assistant for a project on Alpine skiing culture in the United States. While still in early stages, the team hopes to explore skiing and its shifting associations with class, whiteness, and/or masculinity. Most of Stina’s work at present is finding primary and secondary sources of US skiing culture, which include ski forums, online blogs, and other digital content. She’s helping to build a broad background from which to refine research questions. These shape the scope of the project. What are your personal academic interests?

Stina Byun EastAnthropologyAsianLanguages

SISRM has helped me come up with ideas about how I can more specifically approach my interests. I used to view different disciplines as very separated and gate kept from each

other, but I’ve broadened my perspective. This program has demonstrated how interdisciplinary the social sciences can be, in research and in the real world. It’s inspiring.

Virtual Ethnographic Research Methods

The following profiles are the result of a series of interviews SISRM communications assistants conducted throughout the summer with fellows who volunteered to participate. Interviews originally appeared as features in the weekly SISRM newsletter sent to program participants. Fellow profile information includes the fellow’s major(s), their year of graduation, the methodology course they took, and the project they worked for as a research assistant.

At this moment, what kinds of things are you interested in pursuing after you graduate from UChicago? Right now, I’m exploring the idea of getting a masters with a focus on migration and diaspora - it’s a new department at UChicago. After that, I hope to find work at the United Nations or for an NGO. I’m toying with the idea of studying global health. I used to think you had to be pre-med or in the hard sciences to study health. But since the pandemic, I’ve seen how these organizations need social scientists just as much, both in research, and to optimize migration and resettlement programs. What is something you wish someone had told you as an incoming college student?

& Civilizations

It’s okay to say no to things. I feel like I overstretched myself over the first couple of years. Like, with figuring out what job I wanted— I worked at three different jobs on campus, and it was a bit much. Working in the library was isolating and super lonely during the pandemic. But I really like being a barista and a tour guide. I like working with people. Just don’t burn yourself out. There will always be someone else to help if you don’t have the bandwidth for it.

My personal academic interests are in migration and diaspora, specifically from North Korea. I volunteer with North Korean defectors through ENoK, Empowerment/Emancipation of North Koreans, a human-rights advocacy group on campus. We work with defectors who now live in South Korea as mentors and tutors in a variety of subjects.

16 ‘22 FELLOW PROFILES

Of Mountains and Men: national, racial, and economic politics of alpine skiing (Gross/ Fugaazola)

I’ve been reading a lot more lately, both nonfiction and fiction. I like books on cultural theory, like Anti-Oedipus, which has been really interesting. I pick it up when I’m feeling masochistic, it’s so dense. My friends have convinced me to start reading more fiction, it’s nice to take a break from the academia stuff. I just finished The Dharma Bums, by Jack Kerouac, and I’m starting Slaughterhouse-Five soon, because you have to read Vonnegut when you go to the University of Chicago. I also like to play pool, between classes or when I have a little bit of a break from work.

What iss your favorite thing to do to unwind/ de-stress?

Which UChicago class has been your favorite thus far?

Adam DiMascio

I’ll give you two, and they both relate to social science. I really like [SOCI 20000] Invitation to Sociology with John Martin. This is the class that solidified sociology as my niche of the social sciences. I like the questions posed in that class, and the methods we use to answer them. Sociology uses both quantitative and qualitative strategies in research. I also enjoy the current debates in the field. The second class is [ANTH 23803] Magical Politics, an anthropology course with William Mazzarella. It looked at different magical frameworks and discussed how they affect today’s politics and capitalism. This class was interesting for many reasons. It’s easy to talk about something like essentialism when you’re dealing with it in the abstract, but when you attend to it in the real world, it can be more challenging. I’m not assessing the extent to which I believe something is logical, but I am trying to understand the anthropological mechanisms behind it and the intersections magical thinking has with other parts of life. It can be a challenge to distance yourself from your own worldview, but if you practice doing so, it can be very valuable. And fun.

AdamSociology(class of 2025) is currently working as a research assistant on a project which examines the links between policing and cartels as economic and political power structures. Much of his work researches the history of cartel theory, and includes defining what cartels are, finding other examples of political and research cartels, and digging deep into the wealth of existing literature. He also works with other RAs to clean and sort data on police forces, foundations, and research groups. What are your personal academic interests? I really liked the SISRM seminar on grad school applications, and am interested in applying to MAPSS. I think I would like to get my MA in sociology and become a professor or researcher, or maybe go into consulting. There’s good work to be had for sociologists out there if you’ve had some experience and applied yourself well. My interests are parasocial relationships (applying sociocultural theory to sociological practice); Consumerism & advertising. I like looking at independent identity formation and how it has changed institutions, particularly religious ones, in the United States. I want to stay in sociology, but I’m kind of on the border between psychology and sociology. I know Professor Poast has talked with us a couple of times about interdisciplinary being tricky, but I know there’s faculty interest in this topic.

Dark Money in Policing (Vargas) Virtual Ethnographic Research Methods

Latin American & Caribbean Studies Education and Society minor Felix (class of 2023) is working in the field of contemporary American history with Dr. Dailey by adding a new section to her book, Building the American Republic, Volume 2: A Narrative History From 1877. He is helping add and outline a section that acts as a broad historical overview from Donald Trump’s election to the January 6th insurrection of The U.S. Capitol. What have you learned from your RAship this summer?

Environmental and Urban Studies Inquiry and Research in Humanities

Ava (class of 2025) works as a research assistant for a study on climate change. The project seeks to understand migration and urbanization patterns in Cambodia at critical points in the country’s history. The research is part of a growing literature on climate preserve what we deem valuable in society.I was also drawn to this course because it was interesting that it was one of the first preservation-based courses offered at UChicago. I enjoyed this class because I could hear from many guest lecturers and was allowed to work with Preservation Chicago, an organization that helped with the preservation of Emmett Till’s home. It was interesting to be involved, even if it was a small part, in an organization that deals with preserving the environment that you actively live in. Which class are you most excited about taking next year? I am not sure of the exact courses that are offered yet for the next year. However, I want to take a literature-based course. It would be cool to focus on either religious-based texts or horror texts in Autumn or Winter Quarter.

So far I have learned how to better selfdelineate his work on a project rather than being told directly by someone. Since I am working with very broad topics, I have been able to see the challenges of large projects and learn how to work independently more confidently. What are your personal academic interests?

I am broadly interested in education. Since I am a first-generation, low-income student, Iam most interested in accessibility for students that are also first-generation or low-income. I am interested in the historiographical understanding of how students with limited resources often face disengagement and sometimes a sense of disillusionment with academia. Which UChicago class has been your favorite thus far? [ARCH 26008] Historic Preservation Studio. I decided to take this class because I wanted to learn more about architecture and how to

Felix Gonzalez

The Neglected History of Interracial Democracy in the United States (Dailey)

Archival Methods and Historical Thinking Ava Hedeker

In winter quarter, I took a class called [ENST 21301] Making the Natural World: Foundations of Human Ecology with Professor Alison Anastasio. It was my first environmental studies class, and provided a great introduction to a lot of the different ideas of human ecology. We did a reading called The Trouble with Wilderness and talked about why it can be problematic to separate humans and nature. We don’t have to think of nature as this far-out wilderness; nature can be found in the trees in our backyard. This class just exposed me to a lot of ideas that I hadn’t learned about before. What are your personal academic interests? I go all over the place. I like studying the social aspect of environmental problems, like the psychology behind environmentalism. It’s more than just individuals. A lot of blame is on individuals, but BP created the term “carbon footprint.” There’s a scale of who contributes to climate change, with people and companies and countries. So I’m interested in the emotional appeal to stop climate change, but you have to help individuals connect their actions to the bigger picture. That’s why I liked [Devin Pope’s] workshop on behavioral economics. It was really cool to see this kind of behavior research being used in the real world.

Which UChicago class has been your favorite thus far?

Becoming Urban: Understanding the Urban Transformation of Migrants to Phnom Penh (Shaikh)

Intro. to GIS & Spatial Analysis

Lauren Kingsly StatisticsPsychology/English minors Lauren (class of 2024) works in a social cognition lab with Dr. Katie Kinzler and graduate student Elizabeth Heck. This research focuses on group-based hierarchies and how children think of status. Her RA project is not just one large project but a multitude of smaller projects. For example, she has helped code in R to see varying conditions for kids; she has piloted a new study for kids’ gendered expectations; she has handled general lab tasks; and she has handled scheduling. Ultimately, her RA project is a mix of programming in R, writing article reviews and article summaries, and ensuring lab maintenance. What have you learned most from your RAship this summer?

I am interested in behavioral science topics and topics of ambiguity; how people deal with uncertain stimuli and how people deal with complex situations; if problem-solving is affected by age or time and how intrinsic motivation deals with problem-solving.

19 migrants and the economic and environmental pressures they face. Ava summarizes and presents cohesive findings on the team’s UChicago Voices website. She also helps with background research and literature review.

What are your personal academic interests?

My main takeaway is a new-found skill of learning how to code R. I recently declared aStatistics minor and to get into core Statistics classes I ld need prior experience with R. So I am grateful that the RAship has given me the opportunity to better my skills and that the transition was easy.

I either do yoga, bake, or listen to music. I really enjoy making cookies and muffins, and one of my favorite things I’ve baked so far is a lemon poppyseed muffin.

YuhangMathematicsEconomics(classof 2024) is working on a research project looking at multicategorical searches and consumer behavior on online shopping platforms. She analyzes real consumer data sets using software such as Stata. This allows the team to obtain information such as consumer click time and search criteria.

I learned that I really don’t know what my limits are. I can choose any class to take without being confined to a specific area. This is very different from how I was in high school; at that time, I was molded into thinking that I needed to choose a specific major and it needed to be my whole life. At UChicago, I learned to be open to new opportunities and to explore and find new things I enjoy instead of committing too early.

Development of Social Cognition (Kinzler) Psychological Research Methods

What have you learned about yourself in your time at UChicago?

What is your favorite thing to do to unwind/de-stress?

Reading mystery and detective novels! Specifically, I really like children’s and YA books (such as the Ranger’s Apprentice series) because that’s where the real adventure appears. I love to solve the mysteries with the characters and it helps me rediscover my childhood and interest in detective novels. Multi-category Searches in Online Shopping (Chintagunta) Econometrics

Yuhang Li

20 Lauren Kinglsey cont’d Which UChicago class has been your favorite thus far? [PSYC 28240] Problem Solving, Insight, and Creativity, taught by Dr. Shannon Heald. This course was my first exposure to the field of problem-solving and I enjoyed it because I did not know how extensive the field was and how many areas of study there were within problem-solving. I liked discussing the differences between insightful and analytical problem-solving—it made me more interested in narrowing my focus in my research to this field. What is your favorite thing to do to unwind/de-stress?

What are your academic interests and how has SISRM helped you frame your thoughts about these interests? I really enjoy econ and math but I am still having a lot of difficulty deciding what I want to do. I was interested in pursuing a PhD in either economics or finance but wasn’t sure how to combine them. I am also trying to decide between choosing industry or academia. SISRM has helped me realize that econ can be applied to finance. Moreover, hearing the workshop presenters explain how industry and academia do not need to be separate was very comforting. Through my RAship, I learned that I am interested in financial economics and I plan to pursue more research projects in the future.

is a research assistant for a project on police department funding. The team is collecting information on different sources of income to better understand the economic machinations of a modern police force, such as Chicago PD. Lily sifts through banks of data and suggests initial categorization for transactions ranging from grants to individual donations, and everything in between. How has SISRM helped you frame your thoughts about your academic interests? SISRM definitely applies to my major, Global Studies. I like to learn about lots of different people, so that’s the “social” part of social science. Learning about a culture and studying

UChicago’s environment can be rigorous in a way that precludes considering your wellbeing. Everyone comes, and it’s go, go, go— there’s so much offered. It’s not that they don’t support your well-being, but there’s a balance to it all you have to find for yourself. That balance is different for different people.

Primed to (re)act: Can changes in procedural language prevent adverse events between police and minority male youth?

(Beale Spencer)

Lily Mottet

Computer Science minor Rachel (class of 2025) is workin gon a project that looks at speech patterns in policing. The team quantifies sentence structure and emotions of legal communications and audio clips of police dispatches. Speech emotion recognition, or SER, may be broken into discrete dimensions; for a given situation, the speaker may feel in control or dominant, feel more positive or negative, etc. Rachel helps with the background research and literature review required for the project. Rachel also helps categorize by tagging the sound bites. Which UChicago class has been your favorite thus far? [SOSC 11400] Power, Identity and Resistance with Sunit Singh, was the class that changed my life. Like lots of us, I came to UChicago thinking I was the best person ever, academically, at least. This class took me down a notch. But it contributed to an increased level of rigor in my thoughts and how I frame my argumentation. It was a class full of extremely motivated students, and an instructor who wanted to see us grow. Everybody did the reading, everybody wanted to contribute. It was a fantastic learning experience, and an especially challenging class. What have you learned about yourself in your time at UChicago? I think I’ve proven myself as a student. Everyone who comes to UChicago is here for a challenge. We crave intellectual stimulation. I’ve learned that I’m capable of being challenged. It’s more important that I’m supported while doing so, among friends, and having fun.

Computing for the Social Sciences

Global LilyGermanStudiesminor(classof2024)

Rachel Liu Public Policy Studies

Lily Mottet cont’d

Dark Money

22a culture are two very different things. Virtual Ethnography is very much about studying cultures. I hope to travel more to study other parts of the world. There’s something about going and seeing firsthand that’s different from just learning about it. I think this program gives us a lot of tools to help respectfully understand people. It’s a challenge, coming from such a Western culture, to change perspective. I can see the underlying grappling of the scholar. Problems that seem straightforward aren’t. But just acknowledging the problems, even if you can’t do anything, helps. SISRM is one of the smartest choices I’ve made. Which UChicago class has been your favorite thus far? My favorite classes are my German minor classes. They’re small, with about six or eight people, and I’ve made real, genuine friends (including Connie from SISRM). Most of our instructors are PhD students, and are fairly close to us in age, so they understand us. It’s just a really comfortable environment. Makes it easier to learn a language, which can be intimidating, speaking a language you don’t know all that well in front of people. What’s something you wish someone had told you as an incoming college student? I would tell myself to let go of the template “college experience.”

Virtual Ethnographic Research Methods

Ángel Rosales PoliticalHistory Science

Ángel’s (class of 2023) RA work consists of two projects. The first involves exploring indigeneous relations with the Mexican government in the 1940s-50s and focusing on specific anthropologists from both UChicago and Mexico. He has been going through their correspondence and work to try and find links between their thinking and what they might reveal about anthropology in Mexico at that time. Ángel’s second project is related to agricultural studies on dam construction and the economic impact of these developments on local communities. Ángel has been using the special collections and going through records to learn more about those topics. What are your academic interests and how has SISRM helped you frame your thoughts about these interests? I am interested in post-colonial studies, specifically liberation and abolition movements, such as in dictatorships and anticolonial movements. I focus on what is called the “third world” in Latin America and Africa. The Archival Methods course was very cool because I had actually done some of the readings for other courses already; however, rereading them was interesting because I could find things that I hadn’t seen before. This course also helped me plan my thesis, in terms of what archives I would like to use and what I would like to count as historical evidence.

I watched my brothers go off to Big Ten schools with the football and tailgating. UChicago’s not like that. There’s no “preconceived idea” of how the college experience is supposed to be. It’s like my mom’s favorite Dr. Phil quote, “you have to give up the life you planned to live the life that’s waiting for you.” She says that all the time. in Policing (Vargas)

Heeun Shin

Which UChicago class has been your favorite thus far? The first one is [PLSC 22205] Utopia’s Eclipse? The Horizon of Political Hope in the Wake of Empire and Revolution with Professor Daragh Grant. It was focused on revolutionary movements and how revolutions tend to have idealistic and utopian visions; however, revolutions might be viewed more accurately not as a utopia or triumphant movement, but as a tragedy. The reasons for this tragedy are not entirely in control of the government but could be due to outside factors. These questions really helped inspire my thesis. My second favorite course is [PLSC 26205] American Political Economy and Race with Professor Patricia Posey. This class taught me a lot about racial capitalism and how race, politics, and economics are tied in the US. There are different worlds of existence for Americans depending on socioeconomics, immigration status, etc. I was already familiar with these topics but this course helped me get into the nitty gritty of it.

Archival Methods and Historical Thinking

The Gender and Sexuality Studies major was a very new thing that I picked up last spring. It’s actually a very intersectional field and a lot of economists look into it because it is so tightly tied with various social phenomena. With that in mind, the Summer Institute helped me develop a greater appreciation for the social sciences and the humanities. Which UChicago class has been your favorite thus far?

I really enjoyed SOSC 12600 Self, Culture, and Society with Professor Lisa Hedrick. She was extremely eloquent in leading discussions and talking about the readings. I think I got more out of these discussions than just reading the text on my own. Professor Hedrick was just really, really good. I gained a lot more respect for the humanities from her.

What have you learned about yourself in your time at UChicago? My morals have changed. I have gained a deeper understanding of my own place in society and the role that I play in it. For example, understanding what has brought me to where I am and appreciating the factors that have made me who I am today; however, also recognizing my own privileges. So, I think I am more uncompromising about my morals. I have also learned about my own capacity and abilities academically, and know more about my limits now. Indigenous Politics in 20th-century Mexico (Schwartz Francisco)

GenderEconomicsand Sexuality Studies

Heeun (class of 2024) RA is working on a research project exploring the relationship between certain drugs and the average life expectancy of Americans. This project entails working with large amounts of data and cross checking these data against various sources. Heeun hopes to compile these data into life tables, which are tables that display the calculated life expectancy across all ages.

What are your academic interests and how has SISRM helped you frame your thoughts about these interests?

Trans-Atlantic Crossings: Everyday Race in the 20th-Century Atlantic World (Leora Auslander) Archival Methods and Historical Thinking

I am currently working on research for my bachelor’s theses, one in each department, Political Science and History. This hasallowed me to live in France for a portion of the 2022 summer. I focus on colonial war and state violence and how those topics are commemorated in French media history and media culture from the 1980s to the early 2000s. I also explore how culture impacted the Far Right in France. Which UChicago class has been your favorite thus far? [PLSC 23615] Reconstructing Democracy: Tocqueville and Du Bois, taught by Dr. Adom Getachew. This class was my favorite because I am interested in democracy, race, and extremist topic and this class helped me solidify ideas for my own research.

What have you learned about yourself in your time at UChicago? I learned more about trying to find the balance pushing yourself and pushing yourself too far. It has taken me more time than I thought it would to find this delicate balance but I think I am better at it now.

I love swing-dancing—there are social dances every weekend during the academic year and I enjoy going to those. I also really love podcasts and I’m currently listening to All Things Comedy and 99 Percent Invisible

I’m excited to start learning Arabic next year. I grew up speaking Korean and English and recently started learning French. I like learning new languages and am excited about this new challenge. I would love to learn Vietnamese next but I’m hesitant because it is a tonal language, and I don’t know if I would ever be completely fluent.

What is your favorite thing to do to unwind/de-stress?

Donna Son Political Science HistoryFrench minor Donna (class of 2023) is working with Dr. Auslander on her upcoming book project that deals with race in the twentieth century and intersects with the fields of material and cultural history. She is dealing with how looking at dolls, sports equipment, or other everyday objects that most do not automatically assume are racialized actually have a racialized history. What have you learned from your RAship this summer? Working with Dr. Auslander has been incredibly informative. I did not initially think about race within a cultural background, and while working on this project, I have developed more of an appreciation of how race and culture intersect. What are your personal academic interests?

Heeun Shin cont’d Substance Abuse and Mortality (Casey Mulligan) Survey Data Analysis

24 Which class are you most excited about taking next year? I am trying to choose a class towards the Gender and Sexuality Studies major. Most of the classes listed there sound really interesting so it’s hard to choose.

Which class are you most excited to take next year?

Elena Tiedens

Archival Methods and Historical Thinking

I really like to bake, especially pies. I think strawberry rhubarb might be my favorite. I also like to go on hikes since I did that frequently at home (in California). I recently went to the Indiana Dunes.

ElenaHistory(class of 2025) is working on a research project looking at the effects of the Urban Park and Recreation Recovery Program (UPARR) on the city’s responsibility to parks and urban spaces, including topics such as funding and maintenance. She has been researching congressional hearings about UPARR to learn more about its intentions and how funding is delegated. Elena has also been reading federal court cases to see how courts interpret this program in practice. What are your academic interests and how has SISRM helped you frame your thoughts about these interests?

Connie ProgramChenand Communications Assistant Olina MetcalfLiangIntern Summer Communications Catherine Rock Graduate Program Assistant Jessica GraduateSullivanProgram Assistant

I am interested in environmental history, particularly Cold War politics and how that cultural time period shaped human interactions with the environment, both in the US and internationally. I like history and I also care about the environment so this field seems like a natural intersection. SISRM has taught me a lot about the methods I can use to engage in research. I also really enjoyed the excursions, particularly the Argonne trip. Particle accelerators are artifacts of the Cold War intertwined with the environment so that was interesting to see. Which UChicago class has been your favorite thus far? [HIPS 18505] Science, Culture, and Society in Western Civ III: Histories of the Bomb! I really enjoyed learning more about the science behind the atomic bomb.

Onward, Not Upward: Institutional Constraints and African-American Advancement in Chicago (Raymond Lodato)

Which class are you most excited to take next year? I would like to take more history classes; however, I am also interested in taking [SOCI 20253] Intro to Spatial Data Science or something a little more quantitative. What is your favorite thing to do to unwind/de-stress?

Rachel L. SISRM 2022

SISRM fellows at the Argonne National Laboratory

26 “Iused to think that research was selectivevery and narrow, but you really can do research on encouraging.whichinterestedaboutpassionateyou’reeverythingandin,isvery