SICSS-Minnesota

Lai Sze Tso

Lai Sze Tso is an Assistant Professor at Gustavus Adolphus College, an External Member and 2023 Population Scholar at the University of Minnesota – Minnesota Population Center, a 2025 Teaching and Learning Fellow at the Alpha Kappa Delta International Sociology Honor Society, and an Education Board Member for the American Public Health Association. She uses quantitative and ethnographic research for health advocacy, with a focus on applying social media and health technology interventions to address large scale and community-level challenges. She teaches hands-on workshops and courses to doctors, nurses, health professionals, and community health care workers to target-train skills such as state-of-the-field literature reviews, intervention design, and client-patient technology interphase to improve outcomes. Using community-based participatory research (CBPR) methodology, she works closely with social services organizations and government health agencies to explore pathways to tailor technology usage based on the demographics of client-patient and caregiver populations. She has studied health innovations in international contexts, exploring how youth, health professionals, and sandwich generation caregivers learn, transmit, and utilize technology across in-person, hybrid, online formats in health curriculum and social network settings.

Kat Albrecht

Kat Albrecht is an Assistant Professor at Truman State University in the Social Sciences and Human Inquiry Department and long-time supporter of SICSS. Kat first worked with SICSS as a participant herself at the first ever SICSS site at Princeton University in 2017. She holds a PhD in sociology and a JD from Northwestern University. She is also a current MFA student at the University of Georgia in the screenwriting program. Kat’s research sits at the intersection of computational social science, the study of fear, and criminal law. She directs her lab - the Fear and Computational Law Lab – which uses innovative methods to measure how fear becomes entangled with U.S. law. Kat is also the Executive Director of the SCALES OKN, a court data non-profit that works to make public data meaningfully public such that everyone can measure what’s happening in the legal system at scale. She is also the North American Director of the Summer Institutes in Computational Social Science. Outside of her academic and non-profit pursuits Kat is a staff writer for Horror DNA where she specializes in reviewing creature features, low-budget horror, and practical special effect films.

Justin Hollis, Research Scientist, Minnesota Compass, Amherst H. Wilder Foundation

Justin specializes in policy research, program evaluation, data science and economic analysis using surveys, social indicators, demographic, and geographic analysis for measuring quality of life.

Cynthia Favre, Saint Peter Area Food Shelf

As manager of the St. Peter Area Food Shelf, I use my strength of connecting to build a sustainable program to support people facing food insecurity. As a farmer's daughter, I find this to be joyful work. Both being able to offer immediate and real assistance (because almost everything gets better with food in the house) and receiving the generous donations of the community. I am grateful to be in a community that has decided that in our town people are not hungry. And, I am delighted that the staff, volunteers, and board of the Food Shelf have come together with the assistance of the University of Minnesota Extension Office to transform to a Super Shelf. Super Shelf prioritizes healthy food choices and shopper self-selection in in an inclusive, dignified environment. The Food Shelf is committed to providing a steady stream of food for neighbors in need. Prior to being at the Food Shelf, I had a long career in colleges and universities helping students to name their gifts and talents and find places to use them in the world.

Violet Ditlevson, High School Intern

I am a high school student with interests in gender equality, specifically menstrual equity. I am currently interning in a project supported by the Women's Foundation of Minnesota and Period. I am looking forward to meeting others interested in women's issues and equity, as well as learning about research in this area that occurs at a university.

Stella ANDERSON MOYE, Gustavus Adolphus College

I am a passionate student-athlete pursuing an undergraduate in Biology and Public Health. As an intern for the local food shelf, I spend my free time volunteering and engaging with the community through service. The experience has shaped my view of how deep food insecurity impacts an individual's wellbeing and emphasized the importance of nutrition on health and disease. The eye-opening opportunity has led me to aspire to pursue a career in healthcare and advocate for programs to help combat food insecurity.

'Chanya' Chanyanuch BUTSAYATURT, Luther College

I am a recent graduate from Luther College with a degree in Political Science and International Studies. As a Thai, I have had a long-standing interest in Southeast Asian Studies and academic research, and I am eager to pursue higher education in this regional field. My senior project focused on digital activism in Asia, which introduced me to computational social science as a powerful tool for utilizing advanced methods to understand social and political behavior—specifically, the behavior of netizens in transnational democratic resistance. I hope I will be able to apply what I learn at SICSS for future research in this area.

Shiyun CAO, University of Chicago Booth School of Business

Shiyun Cao is a research assistant at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. She received an M.A. in the Social Sciences (Psychology Track) and a certificate in Computational Social Science from the University of Chicago. Shiyun is interested in the role of institutional factors in shaping the way people perceive and adapt to the social world. She examines the regional variation and historical change in social norms and values, using tools from cultural evolutionary theory and computational social science.

Erin HALL, Gustavus Adolphus College

Hello! I'm Erin Hall, a junior at Gustavus Adolphus College majoring in Exercise Physiology with minors in Biology and Chemistry. I'm on the pre-med track and plan to attend medical school after graduation to pursue a career as a physician. I'm passionate about education, healthcare and scientific research. I hope to make a meaningful impact through a career in medicine. Outside of academics, I enjoy volunteering, hiking with my dog, and reading.

Ryuto HASHIMOTO, University of Missouri, Columbia

Ryuto Hashimoto is a G. Ellsworth Huggins Fellowship scholar and Ph.D. student in Educational Leadership and Policy Analysis at the University of Missouri, Columbia. He holds a B.S. in Interdisciplinary Studies and an M.A. in Sociology: College Teaching from Minnesota State University, Mankato. His research focuses on higher education policy and its effects on student learning and success, employing econometric methods and a range of quantitative approaches. His areas of expertise include higher education policy, developmental education, the economics of education, and the sociology of education.

Jonathan LaDUKE, Gustavus Adolphus College

I’m a Junior at Gustavus Adolphus College majoring in Computer Science, originally from Owatonna, MN. I enjoy staying active and playing/watching basketball. My primary programming experience is in Java and Python, with some exposure in SML. I’m especially interested in machine learning and how data-driven methods can be applied to better understand and address social issues. I’m excited to explore these topics further through the SICSS training.

Katie LEEHY, PhD, Gustavus Adolphus College

Assistant Professor Katie Leehy directs a research laboratory that uses the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana to explore the molecular functions of genes involved in stem cell maintenance, plant growth, and environmental stress responses. The research employs diverse molecular techniques and high-throughput phenotyping (computer-assisted image analysis of plant growth & survival). Katie also leads an educational research project focused on developing an accessible curriculum that introduces CRISPR/Cas9 and gene-editing in crops to high school students.

Chao LIU, PhD, Minnesota State University, Mankato

Chao Liu is an Assistant Professor of Sociology at Minnesota State University, Mankato. His research broadly focuses on the formation and evolution of social networks and their implications for the creation and reproduction of social inequalities. He primarily employs quantitative and computational social science methods to uncover the powerful—and often hidden—influences of social networks on human behavior.

Mohamed MOHAMED, Gustavus Adolphus College

Mohamed is a rising junior at Gustavus Adolphus College double majoring in Political Science and Philosophy on a Pre-Law track.

Brigette RUACHO CORONEL, Gustavus Adolphus College

Hi my name is Brigette! I am a rising senior, triple majoring in Gender, Women, and Sexuality Studies, Latin American and Latinx Caribbean Studies, and Spanish. Currently, I am working as a research assistant in the Undergraduate Pedagogy Project at Gustavus Adolphus College, where we are analyzing the effectiveness of undergraduate teaching assistants (UTAs) in enhancing student learning. In the future, I hope to serve people, especially those from my Latino community. The SICSS training will provide me with skills so that I can contribute more to this current project in coding and data analysis, skills I currently lack. I also find this training beneficial for my future when it comes to serving people. By combining both qualitative and quantitative evidence, I can present a fuller understanding of the issues communities face. This training will round out my skills as a researcher and advocate.

Molly STEIN, Gustavus Adolphus College

I am currently a student at Gustavus studying Chemistry with a minor in Computer Science. In my time on campus, I have worked on two separate research projects with faculty. Both projects have helped me grow as a scientist, student, and programmer. I am always eager to learn more, and am excited to apply what I learn in SICSS to all areas of my studies and work!

Shuping WANG, Syracuse University

Shuping Wang is a Ph.D. student in the Department of Public Administration and International Affairs at the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, Syracuse University. Her research focuses on natural resource management, environmental policy, adaptive governance, and institutional analysis. Specifically, she investigates how knowledge and formal and informal institutional arrangements influence adaptive policymaking in the public sector. Her work examines both the processes and outcomes of policy design and implementation using diverse methodological approaches, including text-as-data, causal inference, survey experiments, and in-depth interviews. Shuping holds an undergraduate degree in History and Economics from Xiamen University and a master’s in Public Policy from the University of Minnesota.