As a second-year graduate student in the Department of Sociology, I have finished the coursework for a minor in statistics and my main areas of interest are network analysis, sociology of religion, and quantitative methodology. My thesis research employs stochastic actor-oriented models of social network and behavior dynamics to understand the importance of selection and influence in driving religious homophily in adolescent friendship networks. I am currently working on a paper in which I propose the use of pattern recognition techniques to classify Protestant denominations in the United States. Along these lines, I am very interested in the use of computational methods to address sociological questions.
I have some teaching experience as a graduate teaching assistant for Dr. Philip Schwadel’s Social Problems course. My responsibilities included holding office hours for student questions, grading papers and assignments, and giving two lectures on the sociology of education. In the future, I hope to teach statistics.
B.A.: Nebrasa Wesleyan University
Email: jbenjamincook@unlserve.unl.edu
