Formerly supported by the Lucy Family Institute’s Center for Social Science Research (CSSR), research support services are now housed under the Applied Analytics and Emerging Technology Lab (AETL).
The Lucy Family Institute is dedicated to improving the quality and efficiency of social science research at the University of Notre Dame by working with faculty, students, and staff across all academic disciplines.
The research services provided through the Institute serve three primary functions:
- Supporting Notre Dame faculty and researchers conducting social science research (as a core facility)
- Conducting original research as principal investigators and in partnership with faculty and researchers at Notre Dame and across the world
- Providing quantitative and computational social science training and support to Notre Dame students, faculty, and staff
While best engaged early in the project lifecycle, the AETL can consult at any point from grant proposal development to research design and data collection to analyzing and visualizing data for publication.
The AETL’s highly trained team of data scientists, software engineers, and developers can offer expertise and guidance on projects related to quantitative and computational social science, including research design, data collection and management, statistical modeling and analysis, data visualization, and data science.
We have particular expertise in:
- Survey & experimental research design, implementation, and analysis
- Regression modeling
- Natural language processing
- Machine learning
- Item response theory
- Information retrieval
- Bayesian statistics
- General applied statistics
- Social network analysis
- Causal inference
- Statistical simulation methods
- R, Python, & Stata programming
- Tableau & R Shiny data visualization
Recent Research Support
Over the past three years, the Institute has provided research support for Notre Dame faculty and researchers. This support covered various departments, schools, and institutes, including:
- Engineering and Sciences: Aerospace & Mechanical Engineering, Computer Science & Engineering, Biological Sciences, Chemistry
- Humanities, Arts & Social Sciences: Anthropology, Economics, History, Romance Languages & Literatures, Art, Art History, & Design, Music, Psychology, Sociology
- Schools and Institutes: The Law School, Keough School of Global Affairs (Kellogg Institute for International Studies, Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies, Pulte Institute for Global Development), Information Technology, Analytics, & Organization (ITAO), Fitzgerald Institute for Real Estate, Institute for Educational Initiatives, Eck Institute for Global Health & Berthiaume Institute for Precision Health.
- Notre Dame Research, including Center for Research Computing, Environmental Change Initiative
- Division of Student Affairs
The Institute has also provided research support for local and community organizations including Beacon Health System, Elkhart County Jail, St. Joseph County Department of Health, Saint Joseph Health System, Salvation Army, and United Way of St. Joseph County.
How AETL Research Support Works
The AETL offers four free hours for an initial consultation to understand the scope and needs of a project and provide initial support. In certain cases, the AETL’s tasks can be accomplished within the four free hours. If more than four hours is required, as a core facility, the AETL charges an hourly rate. Rates are set by Notre Dame Research and vary by PI affiliation (e.g., college, school) and the AETL personnel’s designation as faculty or staff. Flexible arrangements can also be made, including the option to secure a portion of an AETL personnel’s time through a percentage FTE buyout.
For more information, please contact Rick Johnson, associate professor of the practice and managing director of the Applied Analytics and Emerging Technology Lab (AETL).
Submit a research service request>