Kellogg Insight has just published a deep dive into groundbreaking research by Noshir Contractor and Leslie DeChurch on how to keep teams functioning effectively during long-duration space missions.

For nearly a decade, the researchers have worked with NASA – National Aeronautics and Space Administration, analyzing data from Earth-based Mars mission simulations in Houston and Moscow. Their models—CREWS, SCALE, and the new TEAMSTaR dashboard—identify the five critical markers of successful team dynamics in extreme, isolated environments:

These insights are now helping NASA design the next generation of space crews: teams capable of surviving and thriving on a three-year mission to Mars with limited communication, total confinement, and no backup plan.
And the impact doesn’t stop in space. The same tools designed to support astronauts are already inspiring new approaches to teamwork and leadership here on Earth.

Read “Houston, We Have a Solution” to learn how NASA and Northwestern researchers are shaping the future of human collaboration—in space and beyond: https://lnkd.in/e6ST5dE8

Dr. Noshir Contractor, a former president of ICA, is a pioneer in network science, computational social science, and web science. He explores how knowledge networks form and perform across contexts. We’re honoured to have him at the MU–ICA Conference 2025 as an inaugural speaker to unpack the social architecture of the digital infrastructures permeating our world.

📅 MU–ICA Conference on Human & Digital Mutualism
🗓 21–22 November 2025 | 📍 Mahindra University, Hyderabad
🔗 Register now → https://lnkd.in/gRcVbgdd or Scan the QR code

We’re proud to share that Professor Noshir Contractor, Director of the SONIC Research Lab at Northwestern University, delivered a keynote at the 2025 ICA Regional Conference.

Conference Theme:
Diversity and Globalization of Communication Studies in the Age of Artificial Intelligence

Keynote Speech:
🗓 October 21 | 🕑 2:00–2:20 PM
|📍 University of Science and Technology of China
“Generative AI in Research: Challenges, Opportunities, and Innovations”

Thank you to Mengxiao Zhu and the International Communication Association for convening this meaningful conversation around AI, trust, and the future of communication research.

We’re excited to share a new #CSCW2025 publication co-authored by SONIC’s Director Noshir Contractor, alongside Diego Gomez-Zara, Dr. Liz Gerber, Darren Gergle, Kapil Garg, Ph.D. , and Michael Massimi. Instead of asking “Where should we work?”, this paper argues we should be asking “How can we work more effectively when we’re distributed?”

Based on a theoretically grounded survey of 1,526 U.S.-based knowledge workers, the authors identify five factors that shape remote and hybrid collaboration:

• Teams don’t need close personal relationships, but they do need a strong sense of belonging.

• Managers value observability, while workers value autonomy, making open dialogue and trust essential.

• Hybrid teams face more friction than fully remote teams when norms across work modalities are unclear.

• Small tech issues can derail collaboration, demonstrating the need for shared tool-use practices.

• Highly collaborative work relies on clear team norms, which should be set early and revisited as teams evolve.

If you’d like to learn more-
Read Here: https://lnkd.in/g_-GjkYk

Last week, SONIC Lab had the pleasure of welcoming back Anup S a proud SONIC alum (2010-2017) and Founder of Pyrack Technologies!

Anup delivered an inspiring presentation about leveraging artificial intelligence to drive innovation and efficiency through bespoke solutions showcasing how AI continues to shape industries in creative and meaningful ways.

It was an honor to have him share his journey from SONIC to founding Pyrack and to discuss how emerging technologies are transforming how we think, work, and collaborate.

SONIC Lab started the school year on a high note at the IEMS Welcome Back celebration!

We’re proud to share that our very own Megan Chan received the IEMS Teaching Assistant Award for her outstanding contributions during the 2024–2025 academic year.

Congratulations, Megan — we’re so lucky to have you on the SONIC team, and we can’t wait to see all that you accomplish this year!

At the NU-Q RAWABET Conference “Shaping the AI-Empowered Future of Knowledge, Scholarship, and Creativity” (September 1–2, 2025), Professor Noshir Contractor delivered a presentation titled “AI-Augmented Scholarly System.” In it, he examined how AI is re-shaping scientific research through two paradigm shifts: altering the very objects of research, such as “algorithmically infused societies,” and transforming research conduct by evolving from substitution toward enlargement and reconfiguration.

Professor Contractor further discussed the emergence of collaborative intelligence, in which AI, domain experts, and technical specialists converge to build integrated systems of human and machine intelligence that are poised to fundamentally reshape scholarly work.

Learn more about the conference and its full program here: https://lnkd.in/gn79pQ2e

We’re excited to share the publication of “Leading the crew to Mars: Evidence from NASA HERA analog crews” in Acta Astronautica!

This study explores how leadership unfolds in analog space missions, insights that can help prepare for the next bold human endeavor: a mission to Mars. The findings highlight how leadership in extreme environments is dynamic—often shared, sometimes hierarchical, and occasionally fragmented. Understanding these shifts is critical for supporting long-duration space missions.

The article was co-authored by Alina Lungeanu, Leslie DeChurch, Megan Chan, and Noshir Contractor.

👉 Read the full article here: https://lnkd.in/giSB5VpN

We are proud to share that Megan Chan presented research at the Academy of Management (AoM) 2025 Conference in Copenhagen, Denmark!

Presentation Title: Closing the Loop: Multicommunicating in Multiteam Systems
Authors: Chan, M., Carter, D., DeChurch, L., & Contractor, N.
Date: July 25–29, 2025

This research explores how multicommunication — managing multiple conversations across teams simultaneously — impacts performance and collaboration in multiteam systems. Megan’s presentation sparked valuable discussions with leading scholars in the field, further advancing our understanding of team science and communication networks.