Nina Cesare
by Alex Paoletti ’20
After graduation, Nina Cesare ’11 attended graduate school at the University of Washington where she earned her Master’s Degree and Doctorate Degree in Sociology. While at UW, her research included assisting with the collection, management and analysis of Twitter data. She continued this research at the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, working on a project that explores ways of gathering the demographic traits of Twitter users to evaluate the site’s usefulness in public health surveys in the US. She is now a postdoctoral associate at Boston University’s School of Public Health (BUSPH), researching digital demography and the use of digital data to assess population health trends.
Cesare is also involved in a project working to create a social determinants of health index that predicts various aspects of self-reported well-being in the US. In addition, she helps teach social science courses at BUSPH.
While at BUSPH, Cesare has had many opportunities to meet with researchers who are interested in digital data, as well as mentor students interested in the ‘data science’ aspect of population research.
Her OHIO Experience
Cesare earned her B.A. in Sociology with a minor in Spanish at Ohio University. As a member of the Honors Tutorial College, she spent much time discussing topics such as theory, methods, globalization, and the philosophy of science with Sociology faculty in the College of Arts and Sciences.
She was offered her first research assistant position by Dr. Ann Tickamyer, studying gender and the informal economy in the United States. Dr. Chris Mattley and Dr. Cindy Anderson offered her first (and only) qualitative research assistant position, equipping her with skills she still practices today. She worked with Dr. Ted Welser for three years, studying digital data and learning to code in R, of which Cesare says is “still the core of my career and I do not know where I would be without this experience”.
Aside from academics, Cesare felt a very close connection with the faculty at OHIO, who went above and beyond to see her succeed.
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