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Zack W. Almquist is an Associate Professor in the Department of Sociology, an Adjunct Associate Professor in the Department of Statistics, and a Senior Data Science Fellow in the eScience Institute at the University of Washington. He currently serves as the Center for Studies in Demography and Ecology’s Training Core PI/Director. Before coming to UW in 2020, Prof. Almquist held a Research Scientist position at Facebook, Inc. and was an Assistant Professor of Sociology and Statistics at the University of Minnesota. He has held visiting scholar positions at Stanford University and the University of Washington. Dr. Almquist received his PhD from the Department of Sociology at the University of California, Irvine, where he also received MAs in Sociology and Demography. He also holds an MS in Statistics from Northwestern University and a BS in Mathematics from the University of Oregon.
Amy Hagopian, Professor Emeritus, Health Systems and Population Health; Global Health, UW
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Amy Hagopian received her PhD and MHA from the UW School of Public Health. She is currently a Professor
Emeritus in the departments of Health Systems and Population Health, and Global Health. Dr Hagopian was the
Director of Community-Oriented Public Health Practice and has published extensively on research with people
experiencing homelessness in King County, such as “McCarty C, Marchand M, Hagopian A. Tracking and
memorializing homeless deaths in Seattle with WHEEL Women in Black. In Loss and Trauma, 12
August 2021.”
Paul Hebert, Research Professor, Health Systems and Population Health, UW & VA Health Services Research and Development
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Dr. Hebert is a Core Investigator and economist with HSR and was previously Assistant Professor, Department of Health Policy, Mount Sinai School of Medicine. His research interests include racial disparities in health, chronic disease management, and comparative effectiveness analysis. He received his PhD in Health Systems Research from the University of Minnesota and a BA in economics from Georgetown University.
Research Scientists and Postdocs
Aja Sutton, Postdoc, Stanford University
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Aja Sutton (pronounced /ˈeɪʒə/) is a computational social scientist and demographer. Currently, they serve as a Postdoctoral Scholar in the Department of Earth System Science (Social Sciences Division) at the Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability, Stanford University. In this role, Aja works within the Human Evolutionary Ecology and Health group under the mentorship of Professor James Holland Jones. Aja earned a PhD in Geography from the University of Washington (UW), where their committee chair was Dr. Jonathan Mayer, Professor Emeritus of Geography. At UW, Aja was awarded the TADA-BSSR NIH T32 Fellowship in Data Science and Demography at the university's Center for Studies in Demography and Ecology (CSDE) from 2020 to 2022. Their fellowship faculty mentors included Dr. Zack W. Almquist, Associate Professor of Sociology, Dr. Jon Wakefield, Professor of Statistics and Biostatistics, and Dr. Sara Curran, Professor of Sociology, Director of CSDE, and Editor-in-Chief of Demography. Additionally, Aja holds a Certificate in Demographic Methods from CSDE.
June Yang, Postdoc, Research Scientist, eScience and CSDE, UW
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June Yang is a research scientist at the Center for Studies in Demography and Ecology and the eScience Institute.
As a Computational Demographer, June focuses on applying Natural Language Processing methods to the study of population family formation processes, gender disparity, and demographic inference. She is expanding her skillset by using Large Language Models in text data annotation and measurement development. A second strain of her current research focuses on complex survey analysis, particularly using network-based samples to study vulnerable, hard-to-reach populations. June also has extensive experience working with administrative data sources.
June received her PhD in Sociology from UW with concentrations in Demographic Methods and Social Statistics. Before starting a PhD at the UW, she worked as a research analyst at the Development Data Group of the World Bank.
Graduate Students
Adam Visokay, PhD Sociology, UW
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Adam Visokay is a computational social scientist at the University of Washington, working with Professor Tyler McCormick. Their research focuses on leveraging artificial intelligence and machine learning to study social phenomena, ranging from using text as data with language models to network-driven survey sampling and statistical inference. Adam's work has applications across sociology, computer science, economics, public health, and demography. They are exploring whether AI can enhance social science research, investigating how it might do so, and identifying its limitations.
Ihsan Kahveci, PhD Sociology, UW
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Ihsan Kahveci is a graduate student at the University of Washington, specializing in computational social science and social networks. Their research focuses on understanding social phenomena through computational methods, with a particular interest in how social networks influence behavior and outcomes.
Yehong Deng, PhD Sociology, UW
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Brandon Morande, PhD Sociology, UW
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Brandon Morande is a graduate student in Sociology at the University of Washington. He holds a B.A. in Sociology and Latin American Studies from Bowdoin College, earned in 2019. His research interests include collective action, criminal law and punishment, deviance and social control, homelessness, and poverty. He teaches courses such as Sociology of Sport and Survey of Sociology.
Chassidy Wen, PhD Sociology, UW
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Chassidy Wen is a Ph.D. candidate in Sociology at the University of Washington. Her research explores issues related to migration, race and ethnicity, and gender. She has a strong interest in understanding how these factors intersect and influence individual and group experiences within different social contexts. Chassidy's academic work is informed by her commitment to social justice and equity.
David Coomes, PhD Epidemiology, UW
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David Coomes is a dedicated Ph.D. student in Epidemiology at the University of Washington. A veteran of the U.S. Marine Corps, David enlisted immediately after high school, inspired by the legacy of service in his family. His six years of military service, including a deployment to Iraq, shaped his understanding of leadership and service.
After leaving the military, David continued his commitment to public service by working as a wildland firefighter and smokejumper. During this time, he also completed bachelor’s degrees in biology and anthropology. His experiences in both the Marines and firefighting highlighted the importance of collaborative public action, which influenced his decision to pursue a career in public health.
David has earned dual Master’s degrees in Public Policy and Public Health and has engaged in research aimed at improving the lives of smallholder farmers in Africa and Asia. He has also worked on nutrition policy in Myanmar, driven by a belief in the power of community engagement.
As a 2019 Tillman Scholar, David is currently focused on his Ph.D. in Nutritional Epidemiology, with the goal of influencing better nutrition policy both in the U.S. and internationally.
Elizabeth Nova, PhD Sociology, UW
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Elizabeth Nova is a graduate student in the Department of Sociology at the University of Washington. She holds an MA in Sociology from the University of Washington (2023) and a BA in Sociology from the University of California, Riverside (2019). Her research interests include big data, computational methods, demography, health disparities, quantitative methods, race and ethnicity, and social networks. She has taught courses such as "Data and Society" and "Quantified Self: An Introduction to the Societal Implications of Self Tracking."
Felix Junior Appiah Kubi, DSSG Fellow
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Felix is a dedicated scholar and data scientist with a passion for leveraging statistical methodologies to drive societal advancement. Born in Ghana, Felix earned his undergraduate degree in Statistics from the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology before pursuing a Master of Philosophy in Statistics at the University of Ghana. Currently a Ph.D. Candidate in Applied Statistics and Research Methods at the University of Northern Colorado, his research focuses on adaptive leveraged causal inference. With practical experience as a Data Scientist and Senior Research Consultant, Felix is equipped with expertise in data analysis, research methodology, and project management. With a deep-rooted passion for data science, Felix’s academic and professional interests lie in applying advanced machine learning techniques and artificial intelligence to address complex societal issues.
Brooke Kaye, DSSG Fellow
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Brooke grew up in North Dakota and received a bachelor’s degree in natural resources and applied ecology from Cornell University. Brooke’s early career focus was on climate and biogeochemical cycling in arctic ecosystems and the Olympic Peninsula. Brooke later served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Panama with a focus on environmental education and sustainable agriculture. For the past decade, Brooke has been deeply involved in local agriculture and food advocacy, working as an organic farmer, nutrition educator, and local food advocate. While running her own organic vegetable farm, Brooke partnered with the Oregon Food Bank to get more produce into the emergency food system. Brooke is currently pursuing a Master of Science in Data Analytics through Oregon State University.
Jess Robinson, DSSG Fellow
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Jess Robinson is a PhD student in Sociology at Columbia University and an incoming JD student and Furman Academic Scholar at New York University. As a mixed-methods researcher, Jess studies criminal-legal institutions such as policing and prisons, the politics of science and technology, and social networks. Before graduate school, Jess worked as a Senior Data Analyst at CORNERS: The Center for Neighborhood Engaged Research & Science, where she partnered with community violence intervention practitioners to collaboratively develop new tools, dashboards, and visualizations using geospatial and social network analysis to support their work.
Rebecca Schachtman, DSSG Fellow
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Rebecca is a PhD candidate in Social Psychology at the University of Washington. Her work employs experimental methods to examine biases in responses to and perceptions of women’s sexual harassment. Prior to graduate school, she received her B.A. in Psychology from Lawrence University and then worked as a Research Assistant. In her role at the Centre for Evidence and Implementation, she primarily supported evidence synthesis projects on interventions aimed to improve outcomes social and educational outcomes for vulnerable groups of children (e.g., in out-of-home care, pre-school-aged, etc.). At the Centre for Workplace Leadership, she conducted quantitative and qualitative analyses based on survey data, translating these findings into training materials and strategic plans for partner organizations interested in understanding and improving their workplace cultures.
