The Cline Center is pleased to announce the 2018-2019 David F. Linowes Faculty Fellows: Assistant Professors Jana Diesner (School of Information Sciences) and Chadly Stern (Psychology). Linowes Fellowship awards, recognize, and support scholars whose work is relevant to Cline Center initiatives and who plan to use Cline Center data and technology in innovative projects.
Prof. Diesner’s project aims to use text-mining technologies to enable better disaster response practices by analyzing media coverage related to hurricanes. She will ask whether the gender of the storm’s name and the location of active media outlets are correlated with the extent and content of risk, preparedness, uncertainty-related rhetoric.
Prof. Stern’s project aims to enhance our ability to understand and address political violence. He will use survey data and Cline Center-generated event data to examine whether the degree of consensus among citizens on political issues and values predicts the level of societal stability or conflict.
These projects reflect the values, goals and standards set by David F. Linowes during his long and distinguished service to the University of Illinois and the American people. He served as a US Army officer during WWII, as the Boeschenstein Professor of Political Economy and Public Policy at UIUC, and in senior roles on a number of presidential commissions on topics ranging from privacy to stewardship of natural resources.
Generous gifts from Professor Linowes and his family enable the Cline Center to support these Faculty Fellows as well as the annual Linowes Lecture on Public Policy. These programs demonstrate Professor Linowes’ and the Cline Center’s shared commitment to applying cutting-edge academic knowledge to today’s most challenging policy issues and pressing societal problems.