Events
Past Event
WED@NICO SEMINAR: Lightning Talks with Northwestern Post Doctoral Fellows and Scholars!
Northwestern Institute on Complex Systems (NICO)
12:00 PM
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Lower Level, Chambers Hall
Details

Speakers:
Joshua Becker - Post Doctoral Fellow, Kellogg and NICO
Yixue Wang - Ph.D. Student, Technology and Social Behavior
Frank van der Wouden - Post Doctoral Fellow, Kellogg and NICO
Igor Zakhlebin- Ph.D. student, Technology and Social Behavior
Abstracts and Bios:
Joshua Becker - Collected vs Collective Intelligence in the Wisdom of Crowds
Abstract: A common assumption in research on the wisdom of crowds is that in order to produce accurate decisions, groups must be composed of individuals who are socially and statistically independent. However, our research shows both computationally and experimentally that social influence can improve belief accuracy, as long as people are embedded in decentralized communication networks. These results hold in domains such as financial forecasting, physician diagnoses, and even political belief formation in echo chambers.
Bio: Joshua Becker is a postdoctoral fellow at NICO and the Kellogg School of Management specializing in collective intelligence. Their current research focuses on the “wisdom of crowds” and seeks to understand how social information processing impacts belief accuracy. Joshua’s mix of formal theoretical models and web-based experiments has been published in venues including Science and the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Yixue Wang - The Role of Professional Feedback in Online News Comment Quality and Engagement
Abstract: News commenting is a prevalent form of online interaction, but it is fraught with issues, such as a low quality of discussion that often takes place. While various forms of moderation can be used to maintain quality, one technique that is underexplored is the role of professional feedback in normative signaling that helps set quality expectations for commenters. This talk will present an analysis of more than 13 million NYT comments and provide evidence that professional feedback in the form of NYT Picks is associated with an increase in quality and frequency of user commenting.
Bio: Yixue Wang is a second-year Ph.D. student in the Technology and Social Behavior program at Northwestern, focusing on computational journalism and social science. She analyzes human behavioral data as a means to enhance diversity, maintain civility and eliminate biases. She is a member of the Computational Journalism Lab at Northwestern, a Data Science fellow at Northwestern Data Science Initiative, and was a data engineer at a political analytics startup before her Ph.D.
Frank van der Wouden - The Adjacent Possible: Why some technological combinations are driving innovation
Abstract: Why are some technological combinations driving innovation? From all possible technological combinations, only very few occur. We use 7.8 million US patents to build networks of technological co-occurrence. We find that technologies sharing a common neighbor are most likely to be introduced in subsequent years. This is because inventors with experience in the commonly shared technology recognizes its value.
Bio: Frank van der Wouden is a post-doctoral research at Kellogg School of Management and NICO. He is interested in networks of collaboration, technological evolution and the spatial distribution of economic activities.
Igor Zakhlebin - Diffusion of Scientific Articles across Online Media
Abstract: Based on millions of social media posts, news articles, blog entries and other web pages, we quantify the cross-medium dynamics and structure of diffusion for scientific articles. We find that initial bursts of posting activity tend to co-occur in time across media, which helps us determine the speed at which individual media pick up scientific information. We use a network inference algorithm to study the underlying structure of diffusion and analyze the structure of the resulting network.
Bio: Igor is a PhD student in Technology and Social Behavior, a joint degree in Computer Science and Communication. He works with mentions of scientific research on social media to understand how information cascades originating in different media interact with each other as well as the role of individual users in dissemination of such information.
Live Stream:
Time
Wednesday, March 6, 2019 at 12:00 PM - 1:00 PM
Location
Lower Level, Chambers Hall Map
Contact
Calendar
Northwestern Institute on Complex Systems (NICO)
WED@NICO WEBINAR: Hannes Schwandt, Northwestern University "Socioeconomic Decline and Death: Midlife Impacts of Graduating in a Recession"
Northwestern Institute on Complex Systems (NICO)
12:00 PM
Details

Speaker:
Hannes Schwandt, Assistant Professor, School of Education and Social Policy (SESP), Northwestern University, and Faculty Fellow, Institute for Policy Research (IPR)
Title:
Socioeconomic Decline and Death: Midlife Impacts of Graduating in a Recession
Abstract:
This paper uses several large cross-sectional data sources and a new approach to estimate midlife effects of entering the labor market in a recession on mortality by cause and various measures of socioeconomic status. We find that cohorts coming of age during the deep recession of the early 1980s suffer increases in mortality that appear in their late 30s and further strengthen through age 50. We show these mortality impacts are driven by disease-related causes such as heart disease, lung cancer, and liver disease, as well as drug overdoses. At the same time, unlucky middle-aged labor market entrants earn less and work more while receiving less welfare support. They are also less likely to be married, more likely to be divorced, and experience higher rates of childlessness. Our findings demonstrate that temporary disadvantages in the labor market during young adulthood can have substantial impacts on life time outcomes, can affect life and death in middle age, and go beyond the transitory initial career effects typically studied
Speaker Bio:
Hannes Schwandt’s research agenda lies at the intersection of health economics, labor economics, and economic demography and focuses on the role of physical and mental health in determining economic inequality. Core research questions include how economic crises impact health and human capital trajectories; and how (non-COVID-19) infectious disease impair population health and disrupt economic productivity. Hannes' research has been published in general interest journals, such as Science and PNAS, and it is frequently covered by leading media outlets, such as New York Times, Washington Post, the Economist, and NPR. At Northwester, Hannes is teaching a new course on "The Economics of Health, Human Capital, and Happiness." Hannes received his PhD in Economics at Universitat Pompeu Fabra in Barcelona and help positions at Princeton and University of Zurich as a post-doc and assistant professor, respectively, before joining Northwestern in 2018.
Webinar:
Zoom link: https://northwestern.zoom.us/j/94114961488
Passcode: nico
About the Speaker Series:
Wednesdays@NICO is a vibrant weekly seminar series focusing broadly on the topics of complex systems and data science. It brings together attendees ranging from graduate students to senior faculty who span all of the schools across Northwestern, from applied math to sociology to biology and every discipline in-between. Please visit: https://bit.ly/WedatNICO for information on future speakers.
Time
Wednesday, April 21, 2021 at 12:00 PM - 1:00 PM
Contact
Calendar
Northwestern Institute on Complex Systems (NICO)
WED@NICO WEBINAR: Tauhid Zaman, Yale School of Management "Detecting Bots and Assessing Their Impact in Social Networks"
Northwestern Institute on Complex Systems (NICO)
12:00 PM
Details

Speaker:
Tauhid Zaman, Associate Professor of Operations Management, Yale School of Management
Title:
Detecting Bots and Assessing Their Impact in Social Networks
Abstract:
TBA
Speaker Bio:
Tauhid Zaman is an Associate Professor of Operations Management at the Yale School of Management. He received his BS, MEng, and PhD degrees in electrical engineering and computer science from the MIT Sloan School of Management.
His research focuses on solving operational problems involving social network data using probabilistic models, network algorithms, and modern statistical methods. Some of the topics he studies in the social networks space include predicting the popularity of content, finding online extremists, and geo-locating users.
Webinar:
Zoom link: https://northwestern.zoom.us/j/92654679478
Passcode: nico
About the Speaker Series:
Wednesdays@NICO is a vibrant weekly seminar series focusing broadly on the topics of complex systems and data science. It brings together attendees ranging from graduate students to senior faculty who span all of the schools across Northwestern, from applied math to sociology to biology and every discipline in-between. Please visit: https://bit.ly/WedatNICO for information on future speakers.
Time
Wednesday, April 28, 2021 at 12:00 PM - 1:00 PM
Contact
Calendar
Northwestern Institute on Complex Systems (NICO)
Data Science Nights - April 2021 Meeting (Speaker: Subhashini Tripuraneni)
Northwestern Institute on Complex Systems (NICO)
5:15 PM
Details

APRIL MEETING: Wednesday, April 28, 2021 at 5:30pm (US Central) via Zoom and Gather
DATA SCIENCE NIGHTS are monthly hack nights on popular data science topics, organized by Northwestern University graduate students and scholars. Aspiring, beginning, and advanced data scientists are welcome!
AGENDA:
TBA
SPEAKER: Subhashini Tripuraneni, Executive Director, JP Morgan
TOPIC: TBA
For more info: data-science-nights.org
Supporting Groups:
This event is supported by the Northwestern Institute for Complex Systems and the Northwestern Data Science Initiative.
Time
Wednesday, April 28, 2021 at 5:15 PM - 7:30 PM
Contact
Calendar
Northwestern Institute on Complex Systems (NICO)
WED@NICO WEBINAR: David Ferrucci, Elemental Cognition
Northwestern Institute on Complex Systems (NICO)
12:00 PM
Details

Speaker:
David Ferrucci, Founder, CEO, and Chief Scientist, Elemental Cognition. Adjunct Professor of Management and Organizations, Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University
Title:
TBA
Abstract:
TBA
Speaker Bio:
David Ferrucci is the CEO, Founder and Chief Scientist of Elemental Cognition. Established in 2015, Elemental Cognition is an AI company focused on deep natural language understanding and explores methods of learning that result in explicable models of intelligence. Elemental Cognition’s mission is to change how machines learn, understand, and interact with humans. Elemental Cognition envisions a world where AI technology can serve as thought partners through building a shared understanding and is capable of revealing the ‘why’ behind it’s answer.
Dr. Ferrucci is the award-winning Artificial Intelligence Researcher who built and led the IBM Watson team from its inception through its landmark Jeopardy success in 2011. Dr. Ferrucci was awarded the title of IBM Fellow in 2011 and his work in AI earned numerous awards including the CME Innovation award and the AAAI Feigenbaum Prize. From 2011 through 2012, Dr. Ferrucci pioneered Watson's applications which helped lay the technical foundation for the IBM Watson Division. After nearly 20 years at IBM research, Dr. Ferrucci joined Bridgewater Associates in 2013 to explore applications of AI in markets and management based on a synergy with Bridgewater’s deep commitment to explicable machine intelligence.
Dr. Ferrucci graduated from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute with a Ph.D. in Computer Science. He has 50+ patents and published papers in the areas of AI, Automated Reasoning, NLP, Intelligent Systems Architectures, Automatic Text Generation, and Automatic Question-Answering. He led numerous projects prior to Watson including AI systems for manufacturing, configuration, document generation, and standards for large-scale text and multi-modal analytics. Dr. Ferrucci has keynoted in highly distinguished venues around the world including many of the top computing conferences. He has been interviewed by many media outlets on AI including: The New York Times, PBS, Financial Times, Bloomberg and the BBC. Dr. Ferrucci serves as an Adjunct Professor of Entrepreneurship and Innovation at Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University.
Webinar:
Zoom link: https://northwestern.zoom.us/j/97818922688
Passcode: nico
About the Speaker Series:
Wednesdays@NICO is a vibrant weekly seminar series focusing broadly on the topics of complex systems and data science. It brings together attendees ranging from graduate students to senior faculty who span all of the schools across Northwestern, from applied math to sociology to biology and every discipline in-between. Please visit: https://bit.ly/WedatNICO for information on future speakers.
Time
Wednesday, May 5, 2021 at 12:00 PM - 1:00 PM
Contact
Calendar
Northwestern Institute on Complex Systems (NICO)
WED@NICO WEBINAR: Balazs Vedres, University of Oxford
Northwestern Institute on Complex Systems (NICO)
12:00 PM
Details

Speaker:
Balazs Vedres, Associate Professor and Senior Research Fellow, Oxford Internet Institute, University of Oxford
Title:
TBA
Abstract:
TBA
Speaker Bio:
Balazs Vedres is a sociologist and network scientist, investigating the network sources of creative success, and diversity and discrimination on online collaborative platforms. Vedres’ research furthers the agenda of developing network science with social theoretical insight. His research results were published in the top journals of sociology, with two recent articles in the American Journal of Sociology developing the pragmatist notion of structural folds: creative tensions in intersecting yet cognitively diverse cohesive communities. Vedres’ recent research follows entrepreneurs, video game developers, jazz musicians, programmers, and graphic designers as they weave collaborative networks through their projects and recording sessions, analyzing questions of the sources of creativity, gender inequality, and the historical sustainability of innovation systems. In another line of work, Vedres has analyzed historical network evolution in the areas of transnational civic activism, politicized business groups, and the evolution of global economic flows.
Webinar:
Zoom link: https://northwestern.zoom.us/j/98578032472
Passcode: nico
About the Speaker Series:
Wednesdays@NICO is a vibrant weekly seminar series focusing broadly on the topics of complex systems and data science. It brings together attendees ranging from graduate students to senior faculty who span all of the schools across Northwestern, from applied math to sociology to biology and every discipline in-between. Please visit: https://bit.ly/WedatNICO for information on future speakers.
Time
Wednesday, May 12, 2021 at 12:00 PM - 1:00 PM
Contact
Calendar
Northwestern Institute on Complex Systems (NICO)
WED@NICO WEBINAR: Lillian Lee, Cornell University
Northwestern Institute on Complex Systems (NICO)
12:00 PM
Details

Speaker:
Lillian Lee, Charles Roy Davis Professor, Department of Computer Science and Department of Information Science, Cornell University
Title:
TBA
Abstract:
TBA
Speaker Bio:
Lillian Lee is a computer scientist whose research involves natural language processing, sentiment analysis, and computational social science. She is the Charles Roy Davis Professor in the Department of Computer Science and Department of Information Science at Cornell University. Professor Lee is the co-editor-in-chief of the journal Transactions of the Association for Computational Linguistics. Professor Lee graduated from Cornell University in 1993, and completed her Ph.D. at Harvard University in 1997.
Webinar:
Zoom link: https://northwestern.zoom.us/j/99055485716
Passcode: nico
About the Speaker Series:
Wednesdays@NICO is a vibrant weekly seminar series focusing broadly on the topics of complex systems and data science. It brings together attendees ranging from graduate students to senior faculty who span all of the schools across Northwestern, from applied math to sociology to biology and every discipline in-between. Please visit: https://bit.ly/WedatNICO for information on future speakers.
Time
Wednesday, May 19, 2021 at 12:00 PM - 1:00 PM
Contact
Calendar
Northwestern Institute on Complex Systems (NICO)
WED@NICO WEBINAR: Neave O'Clery, University College London "The Dynamics of Formal Employment Creation in Developing Cities"
Northwestern Institute on Complex Systems (NICO)
12:00 PM
Details

Speaker:
Neave O'Clery, Associate Professor, Centre for Advanced Spatial Analysis (CASA), University College London
Title:
The Dynamics of Formal Employment Creation in Developing Cities
Abstract:
TBA
Speaker Bio:
Neave O'Clery is an Associate Professor at the Centre for Advanced Spatial Analysis (CASA) at University College London where she leads a research group focused on data-driven models for economic development and the emergence of complexity for urban systems.
Professor O'Clery was previously a Senior Research Fellow at the Mathematical Institute at the University of Oxford. Before this she was a Fulbright Scholar and Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Center for International Development at the Harvard Kennedy School following her PhD (mathematics) at Imperial College. She is also founder and Editor in Chief of Angle – a journal based at Imperial College focusing on the intersection of policy, politics and science – since 2009.
Webinar:
Zoom link: https://northwestern.zoom.us/j/94532487312
Passcode: nico
About the Speaker Series:
Wednesdays@NICO is a vibrant weekly seminar series focusing broadly on the topics of complex systems and data science. It brings together attendees ranging from graduate students to senior faculty who span all of the schools across Northwestern, from applied math to sociology to biology and every discipline in-between. Please visit: https://bit.ly/WedatNICO for information on future speakers.
Time
Wednesday, May 26, 2021 at 12:00 PM - 1:00 PM
Contact
Calendar
Northwestern Institute on Complex Systems (NICO)
Spring classes end
University Academic Calendar
All Day
Details
Spring classes end
Time
Saturday, June 5, 2021
Contact
Calendar
University Academic Calendar
Commencement (Tentative)
University Academic Calendar
All Day
Details
Commencement (Tentative)
Time
Monday, June 14, 2021
Contact
Calendar
University Academic Calendar