Matthew Weber is an Associate Professor at University of Minnesota’s Hubbard School of Journalism and Mass Communication and the Cowles Fellow of Media Management. Matthew is an expert on news media, social networks and transformation resulting from the use of new information communication technology. His recent work includes a large-scale longitudinal study examining strategies employed by media organizations for disseminating news and information through online hyperlink networks. Subsequent research includes an examination of the way in which information and research evidence flows through networks of policymakers in the context of childhood obesity. Matthew is also leading an initiative to provide researchers with access to large-scale online media data in order to improve research on news, media and networks. Matthew received his PhD in 2010 from the Annenberg School of Journalism and Communication at the University of Southern California.
Itzhak Yanovitzky is an Associate Professor at Rutgers University’s School of Communication and Information as well as the School of Public Health. He is an expert in the areas of behavior change communication, translational research, and program evaluation, and is the principal investigator on a major grant from the William T. Grant Foundation to study the role of knowledge brokering in influencing use of research evidence by policymakers in the context of federal policies to curb childhood obesity. He has extensive experience working across disciplines as well as with individuals and communities to build capacity around health and wellness issues, including effective translation and dissemination of evidence-based practices.
Zachary Neal is an Associate Professor of Psychology and Global Urban Studies at Michigan State University. He also serves as associate editor of Journal of Urban Affairs, Evidence and Policy, and Global Networks. His research focuses on applying network theory and developing network analytic methods to the study of multilevel social phenomena including the dissemination and implementation of educational reforms, the economic development of world regions, and the formation of strong and cohesive neighborhoods. Across the areas described above, he has published more than 50 peer-reviewed articles and books. For this work, he received the Freeman Award from the International Network for Social Network Analysis in 2016, and the Early Career Award from the Society for Community Research and Action (APA Division 27) in 2017. He also has experience organizing a similar convening in Ghent (Belgium) on Urban Networks in September 2017.
Jennifer Watling Neal is an Associate Professor of Psychology at Michigan State University. She also serves as associate editor of Social Development. Her research focuses on social networks in educational contexts, and she has worked extensively with administrators, teachers, principals, and students in a range of urban, suburban, and rural public schools. More specifically, her work has focused on the influence of social networks on public school educators’ use of school-based interventions and educational research, contextual influences of schools and classrooms on social behaviors in preschool and middle childhood, and child and teacher perceptions of classroom networks. She has authored over 45 peer-reviewed journal articles and is the recipient of the 2016 American Psychological Association Division 27 Early Career Award. She has given invited talks on the use of social networks in dissemination and implementation research at the NIH Conference on Dissemination and Implementation, the Association for Psychological Science, and the Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies.