Hi there! I am Honglin (he/him). I am a computational social scientist and data science doctoral student in the UChicago Knowledge Lab working with James A. Evans. 

• I study the drivers of innovation and discovery -- how new ideas are born and spread; how socio-technical institutions and metrics accelerate, or hinder, discovery and shape collective cognition, collaboration, and evaluation; and how innovation and broader societal issues like inequality and policy interact.

• I use and develop computational tools: network analysis, NLP, machine learning, causal inference/econometrics, agent-based modeling, and AI for simulating and measuring innovation.

• I am broadly interested in the general theories of novelty in human understanding and in LLMs, as well as how generative AI augments and automates social science methodologies and accelerates paradigm shifts in the social sciences.

My papers appear in top peer-reviewed journals and proceedings across computer science, network science, and social sciences including Nature Communications. 

I have backgrounds in mathematics, computer science, social science, and evolutionary biology. Before Chicago I graduated from Michigan State and was a research associate at Harvard Business School (Organizations and Management). I am from Northeast China - Manchuria (东北), and I volunteered for local LGBTQ health for years. My interest in "computing and society" began in high school when I interned at a local university. In my free time, you’ll often find me in the weight room.

I widely collaborate with computational social scientists outside Chicago. Drop me an email if you are interested in working together!