Faculty members exploring topics ranging from isolation-induced aggression in female mice to the group dynamics of improvisational comedy troupes to the policy decisions that shape homelessness have been named 2023-24 fellows by the Cornell Center for Social Sciences (CCSS).

The 14 faculty members, representing 13 departments and eight colleges and schools, were nominated by their deans. The program seeks to nurture the careers of Cornell’s most promising faculty members in the social sciences by providing time and space for high-impact social scientific scholarship that results in ambitious projects with real-world impact, scholarly publications and external grant funding.

Fellows receive course release, allowing them to spend a semester in residence at CCSS to focus on their research.

“This is the largest cohort of faculty fellows we have ever had and we are excited to see the results of the ambitious research and collaborations,” said Peter Enns, the Robert S. Harrison Director of CCSS.

The 2023-24 faculty fellows:

Natasha Raheja, Anthropology (College of Arts and Sciences): Majority-Minority Politics across the India-Pakistan Border

Mathieu Taschereau-Dumouchel, Economics (A&S): Dynamic Propagation in Production Networks

Bryn Rosenfeld, Government (A&S): Risky Politics and Political Participation under Authoritarian Rule

Kristin Roebuck, History (A&S): Remember Girl Zero: Trafficked Women, Imperial Men, and the Ends of Abolition   

Katherine Tschida, Psychology (A&S): Role of social touch in regulating susceptibility to isolation-induced aggression.    

Nicolas Bottan, Economics (Cornell Jeb E. Brooks School of Public Policy): Social comparisons and economic decisions 

Adriana Reyes, Sociology (Brooks School): Understanding Americans Attitudes towards Caregiving for Older Adults   

Chuan Liao, Global Development (College of Agriculture and Life Sciences): Circular Bionutrient Economy for AgriFood System Transition in Kenya   

Gili Vidan, Information Science (Cornell Ann S. Bowers College of Computing and Information Science): Technologies of Trust: The Making of Electronic Authentication in Postwar U.S.   

Cindy Hsin-Liu Kao, Human Centered Design (College of Human Ecology): Understanding the Social Aspects of On-Skin Interface Usage

Tristan Ivory, International and Comparative Labor (ILR School): Africa Futures Project: Socioeconomic and Geographic Mobility of Ghanaian, Kenyan, and South African Youth   

Brian Lucas, Organizational Labor (ILR): An Inductive Study of Creative Idea Elaboration in Improvisational Comedy Groups

Heeyon Kim, Hotel Administration (Cornell SC Johnson College of Business): Disrupting a Winner-Take-All Market: Pathways for Increasing Status Mobility in the Art World

Charley Willison, Public and Ecosystem Health (College of Veterinary Medicine) : Invisible Policymaking: The Hidden Actors Shaping Homelessness

In addition, the Cornell Center for Social Sciences has launched a new Collaborative Fellowship initiative. This program is designed to foster interdisciplinary teamwork and provide support as small groups of Cornell social scientists work toward specific project outputs. This round, CCSS is funding two Collaborative Fellowship groups, one in summer 2023 and another in summer 2024.

The Collaborative Fellowship projects:

Summer 2023

Jocelyn Poe, City and Regional Planning (Architecture, Art, and Planning) and Jaleesa Reed, Human Centered Design (CHE): Black femininity placed: An exploration of beauty and placemaking in L.A.

Summer 2024

Brittany Bond, Organizational Behavior (ILR); Sunita Sah, Johnson Graduate School of Management (SC Johnson); and Duanyi Yang, Labor Relations, Law, and History (ILR): Organizational Interventions to Alleviate Burnout and Promote Well-Being

Amy Escalante ’24, is a student assistant for the Cornell Center for Social Sciences.