United States of America

Matthew Simonson is a Ph.D. student at the Network Science Institute at Northeastern University in Boston where he studies the effects of social networks on political behavior. For his dissertation, Matthew is working with PCRC to measure how Bosnians interacted with friends and neighbors from other ethnic groups during the war. In particular, his research seeks to understand the role social networks played in determining which people were likely to help or rescue others and whom they chose to assist. Matthew also plans to analyze the friendship networks that form among PCRC’s program participants and measure the extent to which PCRC’s impact has spread to their families and friends. Matthew previously interned at the headquarters of Search for Common Ground and worked for eight summers at Seeds of Peace with teenagers from conflict regions. His previous research includes mapping friendship networks in Uganda to understand what motivates people to form relationships across ethnic lines.