Network Science is for everyone. Diversify NetSci is a forum to make that a reality.
Diversify NetSci is an initiative aiming at fostering diversity in the field of Network Science in terms of race, gender, sexual orientation, geographical origin, and other axes of identity. Diversify NetSci aims to highlight the ongoing contributions of underrepresented groups to the field of Network Science and create a community where we can discuss the visible and invisible barriers these groups face in research and academia.
Over the past dozen years, Network Science has come into its own as a field, with well established conferences and journals, several degree programs around the world, and a growing pool of resources for kindergarten through post-graduate education and beyond. In addition, the rise of data science and proliferation of machine learning throughout the private sector, non-profits/ngos, and government, means that methods from network science are increasingly touching many aspects of our lives and businesses. As our field continues to grow and mature, establish degree programs and academic departments, and define a canon of introductory and advanced literature, it is important to identify and nurture diversity in our ranks and in our publications.
The goals for the satellite include:
- Identifying best practices for recruiting and retaining diverse network scientists -- people of color, women, LGBTQIA+ people, and other underrepresented minorities (and all their intersections) -- in Network Science at all ranks.
- Creating a platform for diverse network scientists, especially early career researchers, to network and showcase their work.
- Providing mentoring opportunities where diverse network scientists can connect with one another over shared challenges and opportunities.
- Establishing a plan for ongoing support for diverse network scientists at NetSci and beyond.
Who Should Attend: Everyone! Although the agenda will include sessions for diverse attendees, Diversifying Network Science is a topic for every network scientist. Anyone committed to a welcoming, inclusive Network Science should attend.
View full program here.
Invited talks
University of Pennsylvania
Science as branched flow: A case study in citation disparities
Science is a beautiful rational process of highly structured inquiry that allows us to learn more about our world. By it, we see past old theories, and build new ones. We realize a phenomenon occurs because of this, and not that. Perennially the skeptic, we spar with our own internal models of how things might happen: always questioning, ever critical, rarely certain. What if we were to turn this audacious questioning towards—not science—but how we do science? Not broadly a natural phenomenon but more specifically a human phenomenon? This query is precisely what drives the field of the science of science. How does science happen? How do we choose scientific questions to pursue? How do we map fields of inquiry? How do we determine where the frontiers are, and then step beyond them? In this talk, I will canvas this broader research agenda while foregrounding recent advances at the intersection of science of science, machine learning, and big data. Along the way, I’ll uncover gender, racial, and ethnic inequalities in the most obvious of places (the demographics of scientists) and also in the most unexpected and out-of-the-way places (the reference list of journal articles). I will consider what these data mean for the way we think about science—for our theories of what science is. What opportunities might we have to see past old theories and build a new one? What possibilities to lay down a new praxis for a science of tomorrow?
Prof. Bassett is the J. Peter Skirkanich Professor at the University of Pennsylvania, with appointments in the Departments of Bioengineering, Electrical & Systems Engineering, Physics & Astronomy, Neurology, and Psychiatry. They are also an external professor of the Santa Fe Institute. Bassett is most well-known for blending neural and systems engineering to identify fundamental mechanisms of cognition and disease in human brain networks.
The Generative Art of Being Wrong and other lessons in network science
In this talk, I’ll present some contemporary technical frontiers of network science, and offer a vision of network science that incorporates multiple perspectives from a vast array academic backgrounds and life experiences.
C. Brandon Ogbunu is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology. He is also an External Professor at the Santa Fe Institute, and with the Vermont Complex Systems Center. His research focuses on the factors that promote and constrain the evolvability of complex biological systems.
Contributed talks
Network Structure: the Impact of Intentionality
The science of connections is uniquely suited to bring together a diverse array of technical practitioners, leaders and decision makers, and those simply mildly interested in the world around them. After all, network science—the study of how unique entities are bound together and how those relationships form, change, and dissolve—defines our time. The United States Military Academy has changed its perspective on recruiting and retention from a model that samples traditional “hotspots” to one that dedicates effort toward raising awareness in areas that are traditionally under-represented at West Point. This shift in perspective on recruiting has borne fruit not only by increasing demographic diversity, but enhancing diversity of thought and research that impacts the human dimension. Research in the data and network sciences is not only impacting gender and LGBTQIA+ communities at an increasing rate, but more importantly, providing a forum for discussion across communities that fosters mutual awareness and understanding.
Nina Fiore teaches statistics for the Department of Mathematical Sciences at West Point. She conducts research in network science, machine learning, and natural language processing within West Point and with external collaborators at the MOBS Lab, part of Northeastern University’s Network Science Institute. In addition to teaching, she facilitates undergraduate research with cadets at West Point and is a recipient of the General Omar N. Bradley Research Fellowship in Mathematics.
Jon Roginski is the Program Manager for the West Point Insider Threat Program, which serves as the "research arm" for the Pentagon-administered Army Insider Threat Program. The program considers threat research from a variety of different vectors: from the traditional (fraud, espionage, spillage) to the contemporary...a holistic approach creating an organizational ecosystem that is incompatible with threat. We want to build a better place to live and work so that people feel connected to and invested in their organization and an environment that is constructive, rather than confrontational.
Showcase Presentations
Diversify NetSci is looking for showcase speakers for a lightning session @NetSci2024 on Tuesday, June 18. The Satellite will take place (in person) in the morning, between 9:00am - 12:30pm EDT. The selected showcase speakers will be asked to prepare a 7-minute research talk.
DEADLINE: June 7, 2024
Learn more and apply here.
Planning Committee
Northeastern University
Northeastern University
Northeastern University
Northeastern University
