Abigail Jacobs

I am a computational social scientist and an Assistant Professor at the University of Michigan in the School of Information and the Center for the Study of Complex Systems. I am also an affiliate of the Center for Ethics, Society, and Computing (ESC) and the Michigan Institute for Data Science (MIDAS).

My current research interests are around structure, governance, and inequality in sociotechnical systems; measurement; and social networks. Find my academic work below, on my CV, or on Google Scholar.

Since 2019, I am an Assistant Professor at the University of Michigan School of Information and the Center for the Study of Complex Systems. Previously I was a postdoctoral fellow at the Haas School of Business at UC Berkeley and a member of the Algorithmic Fairness and Opacity Working Group. I received a PhD in Computer Science from the University of Colorado Boulder. During my PhD I was fortunate to spend time at Microsoft Research NYC (intern/consulting researcher, 2015-2017) and to have funding from an NSF Graduate Research Fellowship. In 2015, I served as an organizer for the Women in Machine Learning Workshop, a technical workshop co-located with NIPS, and from 2018-2019 I was on the Board of Directors for Women in Machine Learning, Inc. I previously received a BA in Mathematical Methods in the Social Sciences and Mathematics from Northwestern University.

Working with me:

I am currently recruiting a postdoc. I am also a faculty mentor through the MIDAS Data Science Fellows program (deadline: April 23).

Candidates interested in pursuing a PhD should apply and be admitted to the UMSI PhD program (deadline: Dec 1). If you are a University of Michigan student and are interested in doing research with me, you are welcome to email me and include your interests, major, degree, and resume/CV.

I was on the job market 2018-19. My job market materials are available here: Research, Teaching, Diversity statement

Teaching * Winter 2021. SI 485 Information Analytics Projects course * Fall 2020. CMPLXSYS 501 Foundations of Complex Systems. [syllabus] * Winter 2020. SI 485 Information Analytics Projects course * Fall 2019. CMPLXSYS 501 Foundations of Complex Systems