My research focuses on issues related to the future of work and social connection. I seek to understand how individuals navigate, coordinate, and interact within fluid social landscapes. My work features empirical analyses of large behavioral data sets, with an eye toward longitudinal and network-based processes. I also use agent-based models and social simulation to develop insights on social behavior.
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​Networks and Trajectories in Boundaryless Careers

Careers that typically unfold across or outside of organizations can shed insight on how individuals will make their way through an increasingly decentralized labor market.

Using data sets from the worlds of sports and entertainment, my research currently examines how trajectories of professional success unfold over time, and the role that social networks and evolving professional environments play in this process.
Network of fist-fights in the NHL from 2008-12 occurring after a face-off (top, red), versus occurring after a non-fighting penalty (bottom, blue).
Coordination, Cooperation, and Governance

How do groups and communities of individual actors govern themselves and coordinate activity? Using simulations and agent-based models, I examine how the formation of expectations, contests for status, and social inequality can either help or hinder social coordination. I have also empirically examine the motives of peer-sanctioning and peer-rewarding - important tools of social cohesion - through the context of online review systems.


​Homophily and Network Sampling

Homophily, the tendency for similar individuals to associate with one another, is a seemingly ubiquitous feature of many societies.
Large online traces of social networks can improve our estimates of the levels of segregation and integration between different groups in society. Conversely, respondent-driven sampling (RDS), a network-sampling technique that is used by sociologists and public health workers, leverages the phenomenon of homophily to gather information about hidden and hard-to-reach populations. My work involves studying rates and patterns of interaction between different online groups, improving RDS performance, and adapting RDS for use in the study of online populations.