2. What’s one interesting fact about you that your colleagues probably don’t know?

I have a vintage bicycle from around 1960 that I love to ride. I rescued it from destruction when I was a graduate student, fixed it up, and got it running again because I found it very satisfying that I could work on it for a few hours, get my hands dirty, and see tangible progress (as opposed to academic research, where the progress feels like it’s measured in months when we’re lucky). After that, I swore I would keep it on the road until I got tenure. Mission accomplished.

3. What aspects of network-related research are you most passionate about?

Much of my work has been pretty interdisciplinary, especially recently. I’ve really enjoyed my collaborations in the social neuroscience space. I have a current collaboration at the intersection of networks and cognitive science. As the network space matures, I think more of the opportunity lies in combining network ideas and methods with ideas and methods from related disciplines to do really interesting work. But interdisciplinary research can be a risky strategy for junior faculty, so proceed with caution! 

4. What inspired your research interests in networks, and when did you realize that you want to be a network scholar?

In college, I was pre-med and majored in Chemistry and Chemical Biology. When I decided not to become a doctor, I didn’t know what else to do, so I worked for a while in management consulting, then in financial services. I was at Morgan Stanley during the run-up to the dot.com boom of 1999 in a kind of internal consulting group. Our goal was to learn about the different businesses Morgan Stanley was in, then figure out ways for them to leverage technology and the internet. It was a very exciting time — right up until the bust in March 2000. But I learned two important things from that experience. First, I learned that a corporate job was not for me — I wanted to do something much more independent and self-directed and being an academic has been amazing for me in that regard. And second, I learned that the way things get done in big companies is through the informal network. Putting those two insights together, I realized that there were people whose job it is to do research on such things. And I’m lucky enough to have become one of those people.

5. Would you like to give any advice to more junior researchers?

Here’s my hot take: the best thing rookie faculty can do to be research productive is to over-invest in your teaching the first time through. If teaching does not go as well as you (or your colleagues) wish it did, it becomes a massive drain on your emotional energy. When it goes well, it frees you to focus on research.