Macy, Michael Walton
Goldwin-Smith Professor of Socresearch
research and scholarship focus
- collective action
- emergence of norms
- dynamic networks
- high-threshold cascades
- cognitive game theory
- agent based modeling
primary investigator of
co investigator of
affiliations
head of
- Getting Connected: Social Science in the Age of Networks | 2005-2008 Theme Project
faculty appointment in
- Sociology (SOC) | Cornell department
member of graduate field
- Cognitive Science | minor graduate field
- Communication | graduate field
- Information Science | graduate field
- Sociology | graduate field
other Cornell affiliations
- Center for the Study of Economy and Society (CSES) | research center
- Center for the Study of Inequality (CSI) | research center
- Program for the Study of Contentious Politics | research program
teaching
teaches
- INFO 7900 - Independent Research (TBA -) | fall 2009 class
- SOC 4340 - On-line Social and Information Networks (T 02:00:PM-04:25:PM) | fall 2009 class
- SOC 5800 - Idnty Interest Collecti Action (R 02:00:PM-04:25:PM) | fall 2009 class
- INFO 7900 - Independent Research (TBA -) | spring 2009 class
- SOC 3110 - Group Solidarity (TR 01:25:PM-02:15:PM) | spring 2009 class
background
educational background
- 1980-85: Ph.D. in Sociology, Harvard University (with a B.A. in Government, also at Harvard).
professional background
2008- : Non-Resident Fellow, Brookings Institution, Washington, D.C.
2007- : Goldwin Smith Professor of Arts and Sciences, Cornell University.
2006- : Graduate Faculty, College of Computing and Information Science, Cornell
2002-06: Chair, Department of Sociology, Cornell University.
1997-07: Professor, Department of Sociology, Cornell University.
1992-96: Associate Professor, Department of Sociology, Brandeis University.
1993-94: Visiting Associate Professor of Social Studies, Harvard University.
1986-91: Assistant Professor, Department of Sociology, Brandeis University.
1985-86: Lecturer in Social Studies, Harvard University.
1981-85: Teaching Fellow in Social Studies and Sociology, Harvard University.
awards and distinctions
2008: CITASA Award for Public Sociology for "Next Generation Cyberinfrastructure."
2007: American Sociological Association Award for Best Paper in Mathematical
Sociology for “The Emperor’s Dilemma: A Computational Model of Self11
Enforcing Norms” (with Damon Centola and Robb Willer).
1999: Academy of Management OMT Best Paper Award for “‘In Search of
Excellence’: Fads, Success Stories, and Communication Bias” (with David
Strang).
1993: American Sociological Association Theory Prize, for “Social Learning and
the Structure of Collective Action.”
publications
selected publications (listing in progress)
PEER-REVIEWED PUBLICATIONS:
• Centola, D. and M. Macy. 2007. “Complex Contagions and the Weakness of Long
Ties.” American Journal of Sociology 113:702-34.
• Van de Rijt, A. and M. Macy. “Neighborhood Chance and Neighborhood Change: A
Comment on Bruch and Mare.” American Journal of Sociology, forthcoming 2008.
• Kuwabara, K., R. Willer, M. Macy, R. Mashima, S. Terai, and T. Yamagishi. 2007.
“Culture, Identity, and Structure in Social Exchange: A Web-based Trust Experiment
in the U.S. and Japan.” Social Psychology Quarterly, 70: 461-79.
• M. Macy and A. Flache. 2007. “Collective Action and the Empirical Content of
Stochastic Learning Models.” American Journal of Sociology, 112:1546-54.
• Centola, D., V. Eguiluz, and M. Macy. 2007. “Cascade Dynamics of Complex
Propagation.” Physica A, 374: 449-456.
• M. Macy and A. van de Rijt. 2006. “Ethnic Preferences and Residential Segregation:
Theoretical Explorations Beyond Detroit.” Journal of Mathematical Sociology 30 (3).
• Van de Rijt, A. and M. Macy. 2006. “Power and Dependence in Intimate Exchange.”
Social Forces, 84:1455-70.
• Flache, A. and M. Macy. 2006. “Bottom-up Modelle sozialer Dynamiken.
Agentenbasierte Computermodellierung und methodologischer Individualismus.”
KölnerZeitschrift für Soziologie und Sozialpsychologie, pp. 536-560 in Diekmann,
Andreas (ed.), Methoden der Sozialforschung. Wiesbaden: VS-Verlag für
Sozialwissenschaften.
talks and presentations
• “Social Mechanisms and Generative Explanations: Computational Models with
Double Agents.” Sorbonne Conference on Social Mechanisms and Analytical
Sociology, 17-18 October 2008.
• “The Social Dynamics of Online Networks.” Unilever SPARK Workshop,
Cambridge University, October 9-10, 2008.
• “Agents and Avatars: A New Era of Computational Social Science.” Keynote
Address for the International Workshop on Challenges and Visions in the Social
Sciences, Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule (ETH Zurich), August 18, 2008.
• “Testing Hypotheses with Computational Models,” 20th Annual Group Processes
Conference, July 31, 2008.
• “Agent-based Computational Models and Social Simulation,” Workshop on
“New Models and Methods in the Social Sciences,” Stanford University, July 8,
2008.
• “The Social Dynamics of Online Networks.” Brookings Institution, January 16,
2008; Indiana University January 29, 2008; Annenberg School, USC, January 31,
2008; Duke University February 15, 2008.
• “An Overview and Examples of Agent-Based Modeling,“ Agent-Based Modeling
and Spatial Population Dynamics, Brookings Institution, Dec. 5-6, 2007.
• “The Hidden World of Interaction: Flagship Projects in e-Social Science,“ Third
International Conference on e-Social Science, University of Michigan, October 8,
2007.
• “Computational Methods and The Future of Mathematical Sociology,” Panel on
“The Future of Mathematical Sociology,” American Sociological Association
Annual Meeting, New York, August, 2007.
• Discussant, Panel on Organizational Behavior, American Sociological Association
Annual Meeting, New York, August, 2007.
• “Social Life in Silico,” National Institutes of Health, July 13, 2007.
• “Social Contagions.” Conference on Diffusion in Networks, The University of
Essex, July 17, 2007.
• “Digital Traces: New Opportunities for Social Science." 3rd International
Conference on Communities and Technologies. Michigan St. Univ. June 30, 2007.