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Congratulations, graduate!
Graduation weekend finally arrived after one of the most challenging years so far (yes, we’re referring to the pandemic) — and we’d love to celebrate the exciting achievements of all our SONIC members!
CONGRATULATIONS to all of our seniors — Arshya Srinivas, Aryaman Gupta, Chiagozie Anyanwu, Lauren Tran, Louis Ingram, Othman Muhammad, Selena Rita Suarez, Victoria Kam! We are extremely thrilled with all of the work you’ve done during your time at SONIC and Northwestern University.
We also want to extend a special shoutout to our data science intern Arshya Srinivas for winning the IEMS Department Award! We are very lucky to have you as one of our interns, and we’re incredibly excited to announce that she’ll be joining SONIC for another year as a full-time staff member.
We also want to CONGRATULATE Diego Gómez Zará, our PhD Student who received his Master of Science in Technology and Social Behavior last weekend.
Contractor & DeChurch at the AI@NU Presentation
Yesterday, Professor Noshir Contractor and Leslie DeChurch presented a talk on The Impact of Performance Dynamics of Human-Robot Teams at the AI@NU Community. Their presentation is the last presentation of the Spring Quarter AI@NU Presentation Session.
Contractor presented a keynote at the 71st ICA Annual Conference Regional Hub – China
Last Friday, Noshir Contractor presented a keynote titled People Analytics: Using Digital Exhaust from the Web to Leverage Network Insights in the Workplace at the 1st Workshop on Computational Methods in Social Sciences at the 71st ICA Annual Conference Regional Hub – China.
Congratulations Diego for the Top 4 Paper Award at ICA 2021!
At the 71st International Communication Association (ICA) Conference, our Graduate Student Diego Gomez-Zara, Leslide DeChurch, and Noshir Contractor received the Top 4 Paper Award for their paper “Do I Know You? The Effects of Social Capital on Self-Assembled Groups.”
Click here for more information about the conference.
Congratulations to Professor Contractor for the ICA Fellows Book Award presented at ICA2021!
Last Friday, Noshir Contractor’s book Theories of Communication Networks (co-authored with Peter Monge) was awarded the Fellows Book Award at the International Communications Association (ICA) 2021. This is the second awared the book received following its launched. Previously, the book received the Outstanding Book Award (2003) from the National Communication Association (Organizational Communication Division).
More information about the book and award can be found here: https://www.icahdq.org/blogpost/1523657/371174/Congratulations-2021-ICA-Award-Winners
SONIC at the Undergraduate Research & Arts Exposition
Congratulations to our wonderful undergrads, Ahan Sahu, Othman Fatima Muhammad, Rohil Bahl, and Selena Rita Suarez for their work at the Undergraduate Research & Arts Exposition! 
Check out the expo here! and their work below:
- Going for Broke: Brokerage Behavior in Organizations (Ahan Sahu)
- An application of Bayasian Autologistic Actor Attribute Models (ALAAM) to Study Social Networks and Their Influence on Human Behavior in Rural Kenya (Othman Muhammad)
- The effect of leadership behaviors and technology use on the perception of team outcomes during the COVID-19 pandemic (Rohil Bahl)
- Let’s Team Up! Understanding How People Form Teams Using Online Platforms (Selena Suarez)
Going for Broke: Brokerage Behavior in Organizations
Last day of Spring Quarter Classes = First In-Person Class since the Pandemic!!
This week marks the last week of classes this Spring Quarter before finals week begin. Here’s some snapshot of our lovely Graduate Student and Lab Director teaching the class.
Noshir presents keynote at PLM Road Map & PDT Spring 2021
Describing how professionals can learn from NASA’s research on assembling a mission-critical team for space travel, Noshir Contractor recently presented a keynote titled “Designing and Keeping Great Teams. Lessons from Preparing for Mars. What Can PLM Professionals Learn from This?”
KEYNOTE: Designing and Keeping Great Teams. Lessons from Preparing for Mars. What Can PLM Professionals Learn from This?
Cooperation is critical in space, and NASA has identified important traits for successful teamwork in anticipation of an upcoming Mars expedition. To help assemble a team for the three-year mission, NASA is working with researchers to develop a predictive model of group performance, one which anticipates conflicts and communication breakdowns based on personality traits. PLM conference presentations often mention the dependency on technology, people, and processes for success, but mostly focus only on the technology. The introduction of disruptive technologies puts even more pressure on the people aspect. This presentation will share research findings on assembling a mission-critical team for space travel that might well apply to setting up your mission-critical team for a multi-year PLM implementation.
For more details, please refer to the agenda: https://www.cimdata.com/en/education/plm-conferences/plmrm-pdt-spring-2021/agenda
citation:
Contractor, N. (May 20, 2021). Designing and Keeping Great Teams: Lessons from Preparing for Mars – What can PLM Professionals Learn from This? Keynote address at the PLM Road Map & PDT Spring 2021, Virtual.
Contractor’s Virtual Visit to the University of Minnesota’s Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering (ISyE)
On Wednesday (04/28), Professor Contractor presented a talk on “People Analytics: Using Digital Exhaust from the Web to Leverage Network Insights in the Workplace” during his virtual visit to the University of Minnesota’s Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering (ISyE).
Contractor delivers keynote at CMSTW’21
Sharing insights from our current work, Noshir Contractor recently presented the keynote “Emerging Communication Architectures and the Changing Nature of Work” at The 9th International Conference ‘Сomparative Media Studies in Today’s World’ (CMSTW).
For more info about the conference: http://cmstw2021.org