Jessica Gold, PhD
Bio
Hi, I'm Jess! I'm a mixed-methods research scientist with 9+ years of experience leveraging social science to bridge rigorous research and policy-relevant solutions. I earned my PhD in Sociology studying gender and racial bias in faculty hiring utilizing administrative data and computational text analysis methods. I'm currently an Associate Research Scientist at Northeastern University studying knowledge creation and dissemination networks in a large gender-equity grant program in higher education. I'm also collaborating with an international team using qualitative data to study diversity and equity work in universities in the US, UK, and Germany.
Recent Projects
Gender and Race Differences in Engaged Scholars among Faculty Applicants
Translating Interdisciplinary Knowledge for Gender Equity
Through the lens of epistemic exclusion, this project examines whether a particular form of scholarship—engaged scholarship—already known to be devalued in traditional academic faculty reward systems—is indeed more likely to be done by historically underrepresented groups in academic STEM fields (women and scholars of color). Through a grounded computational text analysis, I identify engaged scholars among applicants to assistant-level faculty positions at major research universities—a key demographic for understanding organizational gatekeeping setting the standards for values in universities: who becomes faculty, and what types of knowledge may be excluded/included at universities both for teaching and knowledge production.
Interdisciplinarity is often hailed as a necessity for tackling real-world challenges. This research examines the prevalence and impact of interdisciplinarity in the NSF ADVANCE program, which addresses gender equity in STEM. Through a quantitative analysis of authorship, references, and citations in ADVANCE publications, we compare the interdisciplinarity of knowledge produced within the program to traditional disciplinary knowledge. Our findings emphasize the significance of interdisciplinarity in problem-oriented knowledge production, indicating that specific forms of interdisciplinarity can lead to broader scientific impact.
Upcoming and Recent Presentations
Jessica Gold, PhD
Department of Sociology and Anthropology, Northeastern University
ARC Network Virtual Visiting Scholar
Tucson, AZ