People

Austin van Loon

PhD Student

I study how the meanings that people make in their everyday lives and how they interact with others mutually affect one another. I have special interests in political polarization, organizational culture, and workplace inequalities, and the long-term aim of my research is to help us better the functioning of the worlds' democracies and make workplaces both more productive and more equitable for historically disadvantaged groups. I use a broad range of tools to do my research including: automated text analysis, machine learning, network analysis, online experiments, and observational causal inference. In my free time I love to write and play music as well as attend live jazz and stand-up comedy shows.