Archives: Affiliates

Michelle Lee is an Assistant Professor of Strategy and Organizations at Queen’s University. Michelle’s research involves studying top executives and CEOs of public companies and involves large panel datasets including data from the Census Bureau. Her dissertation research studies how the social class background of executives affects their promotion likelihood and career outcomes. In doing so, Michelle’s dissertation research tries to understand whether inequalities from childhood may be perpetuated and affect later career outcomes. Michelle’s current projects include her dissertation projects, a study on how shareholder activism influences a CEO’s CSR policies at their next firm, and a project studying how pro bono at law firms affects employee retention.

Bridget Pavelle is a demographer and Senior Research Manager with the Washington State Department of Social and Health Services (DSHS), Research and Data Analysis Division (RDA). She received her PhD in public policy and sociology from the University of Michigan in 2013 and her MS in statistics from Iowa State University in 2008. In her current role, she works primarily with administrative data on projects relating to child and family well-being, food and cash assistance, and mental health and substance use disorder services. Her work involves program monitoring and quasi-experimental evaluation of a range of health and social policy interventions for clients receiving publicly funded services. She shares the results of her work through direct consultation with program leaders and policy makers, published research briefs, and presentations to research and policy conferences as well as various workgroups. Her work aims to support the welfare of and improve services for Washington’s most vulnerable populations.

Technology has an impact on our health. But what impact does it have on healthcare? This is the question that Youngjun seeks to explore in his dissertation. On the one hand, Youngjun sees the potential of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT’s) as an advanced means in the social service delivery system. But on the other hand, he understands that many caregivers will not benefit from such services because they lack internet access and computer skills.

To carry out his research, Youngjun draws upon theories on the digital divide, social support, and cognitive enrichment to examine the impacts of ICT’s on health and psychological well-being among older Americans. Specifically, he hopes to identify the influential factors in the digital divide among older adults, the benefits of the digital life on psychological outcomes, and the impact of cognitive stimulating activity on older adults participating in digital life.

For having been part of the Aging with Pride Study, the first nationally funded longitudinal study to examine the health and well-being of LGBT older adults, Youngjun hopes to push his research forward, so that it will contribute to the Grand Challenges for Social Work by harnessing technologies for social good.

Gregory Bratman is an Associate Professor in the School of Environmental and Forest Sciences; Adjunct Associate Professor in the  Department of Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences; Adjunct Associate Professor in the Department of Psychology, as well as the Director of the Environment and Well-Being Lab. His work takes place at the nexus of psychology, public health and ecology, and is focused on investigating the ways in which the environment is associated with human well-being. He takes both empirical and theoretical approaches to understand how nature experience impacts human mental well-being, specifically cognitive function, mood and emotion regulation, with an emphasis on people living in urban environments. He is also working to inform the ways that the mental health effects of nature can be incorporated into ecosystem service studies, and in efforts to address health inequities. Gregory is a JPB Harvard Environmental Health Fellow and the Doug Walker Endowed Professor.

Ryan Gabriel is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Sociology at Brigham Young University. He earned his PhD in Sociology at the University of Washington in 2016. Ryan’s research interests include: urban sociology, residential segregation, residential mobility and neighborhood attainment, and legacies of racial violence.

Nick C. Huntington-Klein is an Assistant Professor at Seattle University. Nick earned his PhD and MA in Economics from the University of Washington. Prior to that, Nick earned his BA in Economics and Mathematics at Reed College. Information about Nick’s research interests and work can be found on his website.

Afra Mashhadi is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Computing and Software Systems at the University of Washington – Bothell. Dr. Mashhadi is a research scientist in the domain of Ubiquitous Computing. She is interested in developing mathematical and computational models that leverage the proliferation of sensors and breakthroughs in machine learning to (1) understand societies and social phenomena at different spatial scales (2) model social dynamics of human behavior. More specifically her research focus is on sensing, modeling, understanding and predicting human behavior using the ‘digital traces’ that are generated daily in our online and offline lives. Results of Dr. Mashhadi’s research have been published in top-tier conferences (WSDM, CHI, CSCW, Ubicomp, ICWSM) and journals, and trialled as part of multiple deployments in European projects and private entities such as WebSummit.

Jamie Goodwin-White is an Associate Professor in the Department of Geography at UCLA. Dr. Goodwin-White’s research interests include migration and immigration, inequality, labor markets, and social statistics. Dr. Goodwin-White teaches courses on population geography, social geography, inequality, race and ethnicity, and migration.

Rebecca Rebbe is an Assistant Professor in the School of Social Work at the University of Southern California. Rebecca’s research examines the measurement of and community responses to child maltreatment. Her research is informed by 7 years of post-MSW practice working with families involved with the child welfare system, in both the public and private sectors. Rebecca has training using demographic methods and specializes in using population-based linked administrative datasets to better understand child maltreatment. She frequently partners with the Children’s Data Network at the University of Southern California and the Center for Social Sector Analytics & Technology at the University of Washington School of Social Work. Rebecca is the principal investigator of the NICHD-funded research project “The impact of COVID-19 on child maltreatment-related medical encounters and system responses using linked administrative data” (1R21HD105907-01). Her work has been published in academic journals such as The New England Journal of Medicine, The Journal of Pediatrics, and Child Maltreatment.

For more information on Rebecca’s research, please refer to her USC faculty webpage.