Core Themes
The work of CIISR is organized around three core themes related to inequality and society. The core themes are central to the Center’s activities and are intended build community, strengthen graduate education, and spur multidisciplinary collaboration around shared research interests.
- Urban Communities: e.g., What are the relationships between the complex antecedents, patterns, processes, and outcomes of urban inequality as they unfold over time?
- AI in Society: e.g., How do people use and trust (and misuse and mistrust) AI in all contexts of life where human decision-making plays a key role, such as education, work, family, community, civic engagement, and health?
- Complex Systems: e.g., What methodologies are enhanced by social sciences knowledge about the nature of systems (e.g., multilevel, cross-classified, networked) and their measurement (e.g., reflective vs. formative measurement systems; emergent properties; directed acyclic graphs of causality and counterfactuals)?
Rotating Themes
Rotating themes orient our research initiatives, events, and training around pressing issues in society and the latest developments in technology, methods, and data availability. CIISR will introduce its first rotating theme in Fall 2025.
Examples of rotating themes include: Health Disparities, Structural Racism, the Future of Work and the Workforce, Social Networks, and Climate Adaptation.