Course Social Networks and Persistence in STEM
This paper by Zwolak, Zwolak, and Brewe comes from the physics education research community: a coalition of researchers who study how students understand physics and how students experience physics classes. In this study, the researchers gathered social network data from students in an introductory physics class, and ran logistic regressions to determine whether the social […]
On The Ultimate End Game
Link to source: Click here. According to the Oxford Dictionary, game theory is the “…analysis of strategies for dealing with competitive situations where the outcome of a participant’s choice of action depends critically on the actions of other participants.” Nowhere are the action decisions of adversaries more consequential than in geopolitics among nuclear armed powers. […]
Our Fate Rests in the Sweet, Small Tarsi of Insects
Each year, we are losing 2.5% of insect biomass. For some, including myself initially, this could be interpreted as a good thing. Less mosquitoes, flies, and other creepy-crawlies to ruin your day. However, insects are a crucial part of the ecosystem in ways that rarely cross human minds. This is not insects’ first mass extinction, […]
“Game Theory Says the Paris Agreement Looks Like a Winner for the Climate” – How Climate Change is a (Winning) Stag Hunt Game
As we have learned in our Networks class, the stag hunt game is a classic dilemma in the subject of game theory. Its premise is simple: there are two hunters who can choose to either cooperate or work alone. If the hunters cooperate, they will win the stag. If either chooses to work alone, they […]
Game Theory and its Use in the Prevention of Spread of Disease
Relevant Links: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7584231/ https://theconversation.com/game-theory-can-help-prevent-disease-outbreaks-102934 With the rise of COVID-19 in 2020 and its highly contagious nature, countries around the world had to take quick actions to prevent its spread. Yet, government response alone is not enough for a pandemic to contain itself. It is necessary for the residents of the country to also abide […]
Network Traffic of Internship/Project Team Applications
Source: https://mitadmissions.org/blogs/entry/my-freshman-journey-with-internships/ Game theory can be found in many processes of competitive application, as the outcome of one applicant (getting in or not getting in) depends on the behaviors of the other applicants as well. For example, the process of getting an internship in college is competitive, since there are multitudes of students applying for […]
Weak ties, Remote Work and Microsoft during the pandemic
For many Americans. the workplace saw a considerable change with the Rise of Covid-19. Those who could worked remote during the initial stages of the pandemic, and remnants of this development still remain today. Faced with the decision about handling remote work moving forward, different companies chose different responses, and now that considerable time has […]
Dont Worry Darling and Information ‘Flo’
The recent, juicy drama surrounding the upcoming Olivia Wilde movie, Don’t Worry Darling, reveals the spanning networks of gossip, rumors, and theories that surround our modern obsession with celebrity culture. Most of all, the strength of the network shows how easy it is for information to spread, and entices even those who claim to have […]