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People of the Methodology Center |
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Home  People Rachel Smith, Ph.D.
Rachel Smith, Ph.D.
Visiting Faculty Scholar, The Methodology Center
Assistant Professor, Communication Arts & Sciences
Co-hire, Huck Institute
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The Methodology Center
The Pennsylvania State University
204 E. Calder Way, Suite 400
State College, PA 16801
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This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
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814-865-7177 |
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814-863-0000
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| Education: |
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Ph.D., Michigan State University, 2003 (communication)
M.S., University of Arizona, 1999 (communication)
B.S., Boston University (Broadcast TV/ Film); B.A., Boston University (psychology)
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| Teaching (Fall 2009): |
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CAS 597e: Quantitative Methods for Handling Interdependence
Course website is on ANGEL
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| Research Interests: |
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Quantitative methods for addressing issues of social structure and nonindependence including social network analysis and dyadic analysis. My research focuses on the impact of social phenomena (e.g., social networks, social support, social cognition, and stigma) on message diffusion and behavioral adoption in both domestic and international contexts. Specific interests include: Identifying critical message features and critical people within social networks that facilitate and inhibit message diffusion, decision-making, and behavioral adoption in managing health ailments; Identifying impacts of social influence (e.g., support, norms, and stigma) on communicators' susceptibility to health aliments and immunity; and developing and extending theoretical models of stigma communication and label management; and developing models for compliance (or “user resistance”) to behavioral interventions.
Methodology Center Research Areas: Adaptive Treatment Strategies; Multiphase Optimization Strategy (MOST); Analysis of Interdependence (networks, dyads, etc)
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| Current Projects and Collaborators: |
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I work with Jackie Wiersma of the Methodology Center on the selection and socialization effects of drinking and IPV within adolescent romantic relationships. This study will examine how adolescent drinking and IPV partnerships are associated with young adult relationships and young adult role attainment, including current relationship status, education, employment, children, social networks, alcohol use and IPV. This proposal offers a rare look at the dynamics of adolescent dating behaviors and their impact on transitions to young adulthood.
I collaborate with Darla Lindberg, Mary Poss, Jill Findeis, and Tim Reluga on a project funded by the National Institute of Health to generate a model of public health management of infectious diseases at the US-Mexico border. We are using a combination of epidemiological, behavioral, and institutional modeling to help understand challenges in health policy design using measles vaccination compliance as a case study. We are developing a multilayered systems model integrating processes and parameters brought up by human behavior (Reluga), network analysis (Smith), policy design (Lindberg), economic and demography influences (Findeis) and pathogen dynamics (Poss) in which to test different policy options.
In addition, I collaborate with Jill Findeis, Jonathan Lynch, Matt Thomas, and Andrew Read, on a project addressing malaria and food security in Mozambique. The ultimate goal would be to diffuse new malaria and agricultural technologies that have the potential to dramatically enhance public health throughout the world in ways that translate well into the lives of their users, if we can understand and model the interrelated and complex system dynamics involved in user uptake. These activities are supported through PSU’s CTSI program. Our activities also include Ag 2 Africa: Development of an International-US Learning Laboratory, funded by USDA CSREES International Science and Education. The overarching goal of Ag 2 Africa is to create a self-sustaining learning laboratory – with educational sites in Africa but also in the US – that trains graduate-undergraduate teams from multiple disciplines to understand key food systems-disease interactions. The approach is to use on-the-ground fieldwork coupled with in-class training, using the very best methodologies and systems thinking to build this understanding. The proposed project will involve ongoing and new collaborations with the University of Johannesburg, international and national agencies active in Eastern Africa (particularly Mozambique, Malawi, Tanzania), including the Centro Internacional de Agricultura Tropical (CIAT) and the Instituto de Investigação Agrária de Moçambique (IIAM).
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| Grants: |
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Examining policy resistance and infectious disease within dynamic network conditions at international borders
NIH - Fogerty
Role: Co-Principal Investigator
09/01/2009-8/31/2011
Investigating the social influences underlying agricultural and malaria practices in Mozambique in order to diffuse innovations in beans and malaria vector-control
Clinical and Translational Science Institute (CTSI) Pilot Project Grants
Role: Principal Investigator
08/01/2009-5/31/2010
Ag 2 Africa: Development of an International-US Learning Laboratory
USDA CSREES International Science and Education (ISE)
Role: Co-PI
9/01/09 – 8/31/13
Improving Bean Production in Drought-prone Low Fertility Soils in African and Latin America: An Integrated Approach
USAID/Pulse CRSP
Role: Co-collaborator
4/1/08 – 3/31/11
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