Andrea Hoplight Tapia

Andrea Hoplight Tapia

Associate Professor of Information Sciences & Technology, Labor Studies & Industrial Relations, and Sociology
Graduate Faculty, Social Data Analytics
Research Rotation Host, BDSS-IGERT (Sam Stehle, 2013-14)
Andrea Hoplight Tapia

Education

Ph.D., Sociology, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, New Mexico, 2000
Departments
Information Sciences & Technology
Social Data Analytics
Sociology

Professional Bio

My expertise is social research methods and social theory, my training is in sociology, and I apply this expertise and training to the study of information and communication technologies (ICT) and their context of development, implementation and use. I am an elected leader in both of my home academic communities, the American Sociological Association and the International Association for Information Systems for Crisis Response and Management. My international reputation is visible in the following:  organizing and leading two large and two small international workshops and conferences; $3.7 million in external funding that has resulted in 12 completed MS and PhD theses; 40 journals articles, 60 peer-reviewed conference proceedings, and 12 book chapters.  I have been an invited speaker at 31 conferences or events and presented at 73 conferences. My teaching is showcased in the 12 different courses I have led for my College at the undergraduate, Honors and graduate levels. I have served as chair of 16 graduate student committees, 6 master’s theses and 10 Ph.D. dissertations. Seven of these ten Ph.D. students have already graduated and gone on to take jobs in the academe or industry. I have also served on 50 graduate student committees.  I expect this trajectory to continue in the coming years.

The contribution of my scholarship is carried forward through detailed studies of critical social problems in today’s world, with a specific focus on the take-up, uses, and effects of information and communication technologies relative to public social issues. The results of my work have contributed directly to the policy-making bodies of the United Nations, the Obama Administration, and the largest international relief and development organizations globally. All of my recent work investigates the great potential role that social media data might play in local community resilience, crowdsourced early warning systems, and the organized response to emergencies and disasters.