2025 INSNA Board of Directors Election
CANDIDATES FOR BOARD (13)
Zack W. Almquist
University of Washington
I have been involved with INSNA and SUNBELT since 2009, and I look forward to the chance to deepen my involvement with INSNA. I am impressed by its growth and international expansion and its global local development! I hope to have an opportunity to help guide and improve the current state of affairs. I have appreciated being involved in setting the open data agenda for the field and co-authoring the upcoming article in Network Science. I think the future of network research is interdisciplinary, with major growth in the social and physical sciences and public health. My interdisciplinary background in mathematics, statistics, demography, and sociology provides me with a strong background to help facilitate the next generation of network scholars. I look forward to the chance to serve on the INSNA board of directors and help direct the future of this important interdisciplinary field!
Elisa Bellotti
University of Manchester
Elisa Bellotti is Senior Lecturer in Sociology and member of the Mitchell Centre for social network analysis at the University of Manchester. She has published extensively on applications of social network analysis and mixed methods in sociological substantive fields, like criminal networks, scientific networks, and personal networks. Her recent work focuses on gender aspects of social network formations and outcomes, and on health networks. She has written a book on “Qualitative networks. Mixed methods in sociological research” (Routledge, 2015) and co-authored a book on “Social Network Analysis for egonets” (Sage, 2015).
Elisa Jayne Bienenstock
Arizona State University
In February of 1988, I drove down to San Diego and crashed Sunbelt VIII. The following year I presented my first academic paper in Tampa. I fell in love with network analysis in a classroom, but I learned more network analysis at these annual meetings, both in sessions and hallway discussions, than at any other time in the year. Remarkably, the INSNA community is just as vibrant, brilliant and welcoming today as it was when I first joined. I am hoping to join the board this year to formally give back to this community from which I have learned so much. My career veered away from academia for a while, and so I never felt worthy of serving on the board. I am hoping that my experiences applying and advancing social network analysis in the private and government sectors will bring another new perspective to the INSNA leadership. Mostly, I want to take my (overdue) turn to honor the legacy of those who paved the way, and ensure the path remains accessible, level, and compelling for those just starting their network journey.
Matthew E. Brashears
University of South Carolina
INSNA has long been my most valued organizational membership and has often produced the kind of valuable scientific exchange that I think all organizations should aspire to. I would like to contribute to maintaining the valuable resource for the entire community, preserving what has worked well for years while supporting initiatives to add to its services to all social networks researchers.
Kate Coronges
Northeastern University, Network Science Institute
I am excited and honored to submit my candidacy for the INSNA Board. With a deep commitment to advancing the field of SNA, I have consistently demonstrated my passion for networks. My journey has taken me through various corners of the field, where I have dedicated myself to designing new academic and research programs and building the organizational infrastructure necessary for fostering exchange of knowledge, tools, and funds. Since my first Sunbelt conference in 2004 as a PhD student, I have actively contributed to many initiatives that support the field and promote collaboration. This includes just under 10 years working with Connections, first as an editorial assistant and then as managing editor; and more recently, on the committee for the Networks 202, the joint NetSci-Sunbelt conference. I also led the inaugural meetings of WINS (Women in Network Science) and SYNS (Society for Young Network Scientists) at a conference, CompleNet 2018, both of which have continued to thrive, including at several Sunbelts. I see significant potential for fostering collaboration between the network science and SNA communities, that can enhance methodologies and deepen insights into complex social phenomena. With my leadership experience and ability to navigate complex issues, I am well positioned to provide valuable insights and strategic input to the board.
Scott Duxbury
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
I am honored to be nominated for a position the INSNA board of directors. My substantive research examines criminal, economic, interpersonal and political networks using data from both online and offline sources. My methodological research focuses on statistical network methods, specifically developing diagnostics and post-estimation tools for parameter inference, and statistical procedures for testing micro-macro linkages. I am author of the 2022 SAGE greenbook, Longitudinal Network Models, and the R packages ergMargins, netmediate, and rewie for network and panel data analysis. I have extensive past experience in serving the INSNA, ASA, and ASC through methodological workshops, organizing sessions, on award committees, and in elected positions. I am excited to serve the INSNA as a member of the board of directors, and I believe that my prior service experience makes me well-equipped to support the INSNA in this role.
James Hollway
Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies
I am thrilled to be nominated for a position on the INSNA board. Since my first Sunbelt in Hamburg, 2013 — or “Rainbelt” for those who were there — I’ve enjoyed any opportunities I can to use our shared language of networks to learn from and share with this interdisciplinary intellectual community. I am an Associate Professor of International Relations and Political Science at the Geneva Graduate Institute, where I am also Co-Director of the Global Governance Centre and Head of the Environment and Sustainability Specialisation. I work on political networks and political methodology. I have published in many social networks-related journals on multilevel and dynamic networks, and co-authored ‘Multimodal Political Networks’ (CUP, 2021) together with Knoke, Diani, and Christopoulos. I also teach, maintain or contribute to several network analytic or modelling R packages, including manynet, migraph, and goldfish (more details online at github.com/stocnet and nascol.net). As a board member, I would look to support colleagues in communicating the added value of network approaches both within and beyond the community, for example to the study of politics more generally.
Daniel Halgin
University of Kentucky
I have greatly benefited from the supportive INSNA community since my time as a graduate student. My first Sunbelt was in Redondo Beach in 2005, and I was captivated by network research. I am enthused and hopeful for the opportunity to give back as a member of the board and contribute to making INSNA a welcoming hub for international scholars across multiple disciplines who are interested in network research. In recent years, I have served on INSNA award committees, including the Freeman Award and the Best Student Paper Award. Currently, I serve as Co-Editor-in-Chief of Connections."
Jose Manuel Flores Medina
JMF Asesores
My professional career has followed the steps of the business administration process:
Sociology:
I studied a PhD in Sociology and Political Science from the Pontifical University of Salamanca in Guatemala and I have practiced Social Network Analysis (SNA), since 2011 advising to date more than 30 different companies in a wide variety of industries, among the largest can be counted CMI of Guatemala, Top Bikes of Central America, Banco de los Trabajadores, Hospital La Paz, Cervecería Centroamericana, Grupo Q, Licores de Guatemala, Nicaragua Banana Company, among others.
Planning:
I studied Strategic Planning and Innovation at Harvard University, I have advised Strategic Plans for logistics, government, production and distribution companies, universities and banks. At the Chamber of Commerce at the annual Innovation conference in 2017 I presented my own innovation model.
Organization:
I am an Electrical Engineer (USAC), with studies in Argentina and General Electric USA. Provided maintenance to transformer substations and bottling plants.
I promoted the ISO 9000 certification of the Santa Ana Sugar Mill, being director of the quality committee. And I have advised companies such as CAEX Logistics in all their processes.
At Warner Lambert I acquired knowledge of the quality of the manufacture of ethical products and foodstuffs, moving from Maintenance to Industrial Safety.
Address:
I have a master's degree in Human Resources Administration from UFM. For 15 years I was Human Resources Manager at Ingenio Santa Ana. I specialized in this area at INCAE and other institutions. I have taught at different universities in the country. I managed the cane cutting staff (+/- 2,000 people), I understood the interpersonal relationships of all the ethnic groups of Guatemala.
Control:
I incorporated Data Science for sales growth and currently provide training to its force. I obtained the representation of SISENSE, the best tool for Business Intelligence (BI) analysis and learned to program PowerBI, R and Python at the University of Michigan to do predictive analysis, advising companies in Central America. At the Guatemalan Chamber of Commerce, I have been a speaker of their BI diplomas and my most recent advice was for Top-Bikes of Central America. I studied a master's degree in financial administration and advised companies such as Molino Santa Ana in their credit policy. I am an expert in quantifying strategic risk, using iMODELER as a digital tool.
Francisca Ortiz Ruiz
Centre for Economics and Social Policy, and School of Government and Public Administration, Universidad Mayor, Chile. Millennium Institute for Care Research (MICARE), Santiago, Chile.
Francisca Ortiz Ruiz is an assistant professor at the Centre for Economics and Social Policy and School of Government and Public Administration, Universidad Mayor, Chile. She is also a researcher at the Millennium Institute for Care Research (MICARE) in Santiago, Chile. Her Ph.D. in Sociology was obtained at the Mitchell Center for Social Networks Analysis at the University of Manchester, UK. She was elected part of the Women in Network Science (WiNS) network council and founder/co-chair of the Early and Middle Career Researchers network until the middle of 2024. In addition, she is a podcaster of the “Knitting Network”, a project that tries to visualise those researchers and their studies using the network’s approach. Also, Francisca is Co-PI of a FONDECYT project (2023-2027) studying the social capital of caregiver women in Chile who take care of their parents and children simultaneously. Francisca’s interests include mixed methods, relational sociology, social gerontology, care justice, and gender & science. Website: https://www.franciscaortizruiz.com
John Schneider
University of Chicago
I am an applied network scientist employing social-, sexual-, drug-use and molecular network analyses to accelerate public health interventions both in the United States and internationally. My NIH/CDC funded work focuses on network-driven interventions among marginalized populations including Black sexual and gender minorities, substance users and criminal justice involved populations (and the intersection of these groups). I have also pioneered novel methods used to understand network intervention mechanisms. Examples include: 1) introduction of new field methods to objectively measure social networks through use of manual digital data abstraction from cell phones and social media; 2) a gold-standard for entity resolution in network data; 3) development of an approach to measure non-response bias; and 4) pioneering protocols that safely and securely obtain outcome data from network members not enrolled in research.
I became obsessed with social network analysis upon arriving at the University of Chicago in 2001 as an internal medicine intern and having the privilege to launch my research program initially under the guidance of Edward Laumann, Professor of Sociology, and one of the leading thinkers of sexual network analysis at the time. I am one of the few physician scientists who is an active ISNA member and remain clinically active as founding medical director of Howard Brown Health 55th street, a Federally Qualified Health Center clinic that specializes in the high-quality care of disenfranchised community members. Most of my ideas stem from this clinical work which I truly enjoy and am privileged to be a part of.
Termeh Shafie
University of Konstanz
I’m honored to be nominated for a board position with INSNA. As a scholar, INSNA has played a key role for my growth by connecting me with new research, collaborations and a supportive network of scholars. Serving on the board would give me the opportunity to give back to this great community. One point of action that I’m particularly committed to is promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion in academia. I’m also passionate about supporting open access and open-source initiatives. Making research, tools, and resources freely available is critical to reducing barriers for scholars, especially those in underrepresented regions or at institutions with fewer resources. I would be excited to work with the board and the INSNA community to continue advancing these goals and I look forward to the opportunity to contribute.
Jiang Wu
School of Information Management, Wuhan University
I am very eager to serve as a Board Member of INSNA and contribute to expanding the impact of social network analysis in China and around the world. Fourteen years ago, I became a member of INSNA while conducting postdoctoral research in Switzerland. Today, I am a Distinguished Professor at Wuhan University, where I also hold the positions of Vice Dean of the School of Information Management and Director of the Center for E-Commerce Research and Development.
I am passionate about teaching and researching social network analysis. I started to study social network from 2006 when pursing my Ph.D. degree. Since 2012, I have been offering courses on social network analysis at Wuhan University, teaching students from undergraduate to doctoral levels. To date, I have trained over 1,200 students, including eight PhD graduates. Additionally, I have published three books in Chinese on social network computing, and the English version of Social Network Computing will be published by Springer Nature in mid-October. I have also authored more than 80 papers using social network methods. This November, we will held a workshop "Social-technical Complex Network and its LLM Applications" in ASNAC 2024, expanding research collaborations with INSNA scholars.
If fortunate enough to be elected as an INSNA Board Member, I plan to attract more Chinese scholars to join INSNA and to establish an INSNA China Chapter. I aim to host the Sunbelt Conference and engage in more international collaborations in the field of social networks with enterprises and governments in China.