معرفی
Laura K. Nelson is an Associate Professor of Sociology at the University of British Columbia, where she also directs the Centre for Computational Social Science. Her work bridges computational methods with sociological inquiry, focusing on gender inequality, social movements, and organizational dynamics. She previously held faculty roles at Northeastern University and affiliated with institutions like the NULab for Texts, Maps, and Networks and the Network Science Institute.
- Education:
- PhD in Sociology (2014), University of California, Berkeley
- MA in Sociology (2009), University of California, Berkeley
- BA in Sociology (2006), University of Wisconsin-Madison (Phi Beta Kappa)
Research Interests span computational sociology, social movement strategy, intersectionality, and STEM equity. She pioneered frameworks like computational grounded theory and radical objectivity, integrating machine learning with qualitative paradigms.
Recent publications analyze gender dynamics in emergency medicine, feminist movement histories, and the NSF ADVANCE program’s impact on equity. Her 2024 Social Science Quarterly paper quantifies ADVANCE’s interdisciplinary reach.
Awards include the 2020 Best Meta-Reviewer at SocInfo20 and Outstanding Faculty of the Year at Northeastern University. She serves on editorial boards for American Journal of Sociology, Poetics, and Acta Sociologica.
She co-PIs a National Science Foundation grant studying gender-equity dissemination in higher education networks and supervises graduate student Jinyang Yu. Her lab, Centre for Computational Social Science, drives open-source methodological innovation.
