Had a small part of this that I am pretty proud of:
Full push-button reproducible manuscripts from data to manuscript.
Nearly every stat, figure, number, table, etc is pulled directly from analysis code and data and "knit" with manuscript text written in Google Docs.
Blog post coming soon ...
Enormously looking forward to this event on April 21 at 6:30pm ET (online!) with the amazing @emilymbender.bsky.social
and @alexhanna.bsky.social talking about their new book, The AI Con.
Register here:
virginia.zoom.us/webinar/regi...
Authors Chad M. Topaz, Anvi Kurongonayini, Bennett Ptak, Arden Fluehr, Ariana Mendible, Rachel Roca, Nancy Rodríguez, Lu Xian, Régan Schwartz, Jude Higdon Abstract Five countries account for over 80% of Nobel Prize–winning discoveries. Because high-prestige recognition redirects resources and talent, such concentration can be self-reinforcing, yet whether it originates in institutional design or individual evaluator behavior is unknown. We decomposed Nobel selection into a five-layer network spanning 8,134 individuals, 514,111 edges, and five prize categories (1901–1975). The Swedish and Norwegian bodies that oversee Nobel selection assembled a geographically diverse nominator pool, yet within it, nominators select same-country nominees 4.85 times as often as expected (p < 0.001), from 8.58 times in Literature to 3.01 times in Physics. This concentration persisted as the nominee pool diversified over seven decades. Geographic sorting enters at the discretionary nomination decision, not the institutional pipeline—a specific, targetable point in the selection process.
🚨 80% of Nobel Prizes go to folx in 5 countries. Why?
We analyzed 75 years of prize committees, nominators, nominees, and laureates... a network of 500k edges. Turns out nominators choose compatriots at 5x the expected rate — amplifying geographic bias.
Read: osf.io/preprints/so...
#AcademicSky
Hurray!!!
Grant Witness is hiring! We're seeking a full-time data scientist to join our team building data resources to support journalism, litigation, and activism protecting science, public health, and the rule of law. grant-witness.us/apply.html #rstats
poster advertising the event — Drawing Lines: Data & Justice in the Criminal Legal System, by Professor Brennan Klein. March 5, 2026
Thursday, March 5th! I’m giving a @lecturesontap.bsky.social about our work on drug-free zone laws & data justice — with incredible collaborators at @campaignzero.bsky.social @nunetsi.bsky.social @hutchinscenter.bsky.social
Currently sold out, but there’s sometimes day-of tickets, so check back!
Now available! FILM DIPLOMACY: A MEDIA HISTORY OF US-TURKEY RELATIONS, by Ayşehan Jülide Etem. Use the coupon code CUP20 and save 20% bit.ly/3PaRGj2 @julideetem.bsky.social @columbiaup.bsky.social
🚨🚨🚨 NetSci Hackathon PSA!!!
Are you at NetSci this year? Wanna come a day early and hack on a cool new dataset? Join our hackathon which will take place on May 31.
We have limited space, so please indicate your interest through our application form by Mar 13: www.philchodrow.prof/higher-order...
New on the arxiv:
“Graphs are maximally expressive for higher-order interactions”
arxiv.org/abs/2602.16937
We clarify central misconceptions in the recent literature on "higher-order networks".
w/ @piratepeel.bsky.social , @manlius.bsky.social, and @thilogross.bsky.social
Explainer 🧵: 1/N
Richard Betzel Network Data Research Seminar from 1 to 2 PM in Room 205 of the School of Data Science on Feb 20, 2026.
The Network Data Research Seminar returns with guest speaker Richard Betzel from the University of Minnesota. Join us for a talk on multi scale network neuroscience at the UVA School of Data Science on Feb. 20 from 1-2 PM. Read more: https://bit.ly/4qaYdHB
The bicycle is an underrated invention
Bikes allow us terrestrial folk to be more like fish in terms of efficiency when travelling, and beat pretty much every organism, as well as all powered vehicles.
buff.ly/vcH5TLu
Book cover for Film Diplomacy: A Media History of Turkey–US Relations by Ayşehan Jülide Etem. The top half features bold red and white title text on a dark blue background. Below, a black-and-white archival photograph shows several men operating film cameras and tripods on a hillside overlooking a dense cityscape, suggesting documentary or state media production. The author’s name appears at the bottom on a blue band.
Very excited to announce my first book 🪄 Film Diplomacy 📽️ is forthcoming with @columbiaup.bsky.social.
Postdoc openings at Kellogg/Northwestern!
Review begins Feb 15 (rolling until filled).
Apply / details: www.kellogg.northwestern.edu/academics-re...
Hello all! I’m recruiting a postdoc to work with my lab and I on methods for analyzing intensive longitudinal timeseries of psychological phenomena, with particular focus on measurement and optimization of interventions! Start would be August 2026
🚀 We're pleased to open the call for Champions and Mentors for the rOpenSci Champions Program 2026-2027, a 12-month journey in open science, research software, and community building.
🌎 This year's cohort will be run in Spanish and focused on Latin America
More info at ropensci.org/blog/2026/01...
Sorry we didn’t get to talk much from the other side of the table. But happy to welcome you to cville!
Another joint keynote at NetSci 2026 is official! 𝗔𝗹𝗯𝗲𝗿𝘁-𝗟𝗮́𝘀𝘇𝗹𝗼́ 𝗕𝗮𝗿𝗮𝗯𝗮́𝘀𝗶 and 𝗥𝗲́𝗸𝗮 𝗔𝗹𝗯𝗲𝗿𝘁 reunite on stage for a one-of-a-kind talk. Their discovery of scale-free networks and the Barabási–Albert model reshaped network science. We can’t wait to welcome you!
@barabasi.bsky.social
tinyurl.com/4t5p46yr
We're hiring a Business Development Contractor to expand SDS’s executive and non-degree education footprint in Northern Virginia. Cool job. Great organization (biased as I am). Unlimited bonus comp 🤑 datascience.virginia.edu/pages/busine...
My first editorial in @science.org was published today: what to do (and, importantly, what NOT to do) when your grants are suddenly cut or research funding is uncertain. Please read and share!
#AcademicSky #Science #Astronomy
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
A lot of findings in this new paper, but one is the inevitable doom of traditional peer review:
1) AI creates a flood of papers, both good & bad
2) Paper complexity, a key screen and signal of quality for human work, is actually a signal of low quality for AI
There's no plan for what comes next.
Thrilled to announce the Handbook of Computational Social Science is officially out! 956 pages, 118 authors, and truly global, interdisciplinary perspectives. Deep thanks to the contributors and anonymous reviewers who shaped this over 4 years. Buy your copy now!
@elgarpublishing.bsky.social
A wonderful opportunity to come join the @uvadatascience.bsky.social community!!
Paper out today in @nathumbehav.nature.com:
1) those groups (women, African Americans, lower SES, rural) that are underrepresented in science have been less trusting of science.
2) If you improve representation in science, you improve trust among those groups.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
We are looking for a PhD student to work with us on network science methods for biomedicine. The student can be enrolled in any graduate program. #NetworkMedicine #ComplexSystems.
Want to be an intern at Microsoft Research in the Computational Social Science group in NYC (Jake Hofman, David Rothschild, Dan Goldstein)
Follow this link and do your thing! Deadline approaching soonish!
apply.careers.microsoft.com/careers/job/...
We are hiring!
The Department of Network and Data Science of Central European University (Vienna) has an open position for an Assistant Professor in network science and computational social science.
Thinking just about editors and desk rejection, is it better to submit a paper before the winter holidays or wait until the new year?
Has anyone analyzed seasonal/time-of-day rejection rates?
Blog post: "The orbital argumentation of AI writing"
Have you ever wondered why AI writing seems to orbit around the point but not make the point? I wrote it about. I hope you'll read! And enjoy!
meresophistry.substack.com/p/seeking-hu...
IC2S2 2026 registration is open!
Explore the 2026 conference here ➡️ ic2s2-2026.org
✔️ Submissions open December 15th
✔️ Keynotes will be announced between now and February
✔️ Full program of selected talks and tutorials will be available in late April
Networks are #complex and their dynamics often look chaotic. But we can reconstruct latent spaces where their behavior becomes strikingly regular, revealing functional organization across biology, society and technology.
How? 👉 rdcu.be/eSsqn 🧪🧠🦠🧬🌐
Kudos to Andrea, @dzanc.bsky.social & Sebastiano!