Sam Huang worked as a research assistant on SONIC’s Enterprise Social Media project during the academic year of 2021-2022. Some of Sam’s tasks included descriptive network analysis, data visualizations, and the derivation of actionable insights. Sam presented his findings as part of an organizational-level report to the leadership team at a leading biotech company, demonstrating high quality and clarity in his explanations of complex network analyses. He was a great team player, highly organized, and self-driven. Sam claims that SONIC Director Noshir Contractor’s recommendation letter was the determining factor that helped him to be admitted to the Harvard Master of Biomedical Informatics. He has just started his program this past week, and reflects upon his research at SONIC as the most important experience in his undergrad program at Northwestern. Best of luck to you in all of your future endeavors, Sam!

SONIC Director Noshir Contractor will be giving a keynote address on September 16th at 9:30am China time on People Analytics: Using Digital Exhaust from the Web to Leverage Network Insights in the Algorithmically Infused Workplace. The keynote will be given as part of the 2023 Annual Meeting of the Association of Intelligence and Computational Communication Research. Check out the International Communication Association for more info.

ATLAS Lab Director Leslie DeChurch, SONIC Affiliated Faculty Alina Lungeanu, and SONIC Director Noshir Contractor have collaborated on a new article recently published in journal Acta Astronautics. Their research analyzes how space crews embarking on deep space missions can effectively maintain positive working relationships, even while dealing with long-term isolation, highly stressful scenarios, and conflicting leadership dynamics. The results of this research can prove invaluable for the future of spaceflight and the cultivation of enduring, constructive teamwork. Access the article by October 22 here.

Over the past months, the Institute for Policy Research has run their annual Summer Undergraduate Research Assistants (SURA) program. Undergraduate student Milan Shah has been working with SONIC Director Noshir Contractor, Professor Hyejin Youn, and PhD student Megan Chan to understand effective communication in deep-space exploration. The interdisciplinary results of this research could prove invaluable for the future of frontier exploration. Read more about their research here— great work Milan!

Last week, the SONIC team said goodbye to two of our own– Graduate Student Researcher Jasmine Wu, and Research Assistant Professor Alina Lungeanu. Jasmine is off to the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania, and Alina will be continuing her work at Northeastern University. We thank them both for the years of work and passion they’ve spent at SONIC, and we wish them the best in their future endeavors!

This past weekend multiple SONIC members attended the Academy of Management Annual Meeting! Talks were given by SONIC Director Noshir Contractor, as well as Neelam Modi, Jasmine Wu, and Megan Chan.

We are so excited to announce SONIC Director Noshir Contractor has been selected to be honored with induction into the Academy of Management Fellows for 2023! You can read more about all the 2023 AOM Fellows here: https://aom.org/about-aom/aom-news/blog-detail_releases/blog-detail/releases/2023/06/26/ten-inducted-into-aom-fellows-for-2023?_zs=RR7q91&_zl=wbFA7 Congratulations Noshir!

This year at Sunbelt 2023, three SONIC members, Neelam Modi, Jasmine Wu, and Megan Chan, as well as SONIC Director Noshir Contractor all gave presentations. You can see what everyone’s presentations were on and more about them here. Great work to these individuals!

We are so excited to announce that SONIC Director Noshir Contractor has been named a Fellow of the Academy of Management! He is 1 of 10 fellows elected to this year’s class, and he will be honored formally on August 6 at the AOM Fellows Dinner. You can read more about this here. Congratulations Noshir!