Events
Past Event
WED@NICO SEMINAR: Sameer Srivastava, UC Berkeley "Lifting the Curtain: Backstage Cognition, Frontstage Behavior, and the Interpersonal Transmission of Culture"
Northwestern Institute on Complex Systems (NICO)
12:00 PM
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Lower Level, Chambers Hall
Details
Speaker:
Sameer Srivastava, Assistant Professor, Haas School of Business, University of California, Berkeley
Title:
Lifting the Curtain: Backstage Cognition, Frontstage Behavior, and the Interpersonal Transmission of Culture
Co-Sponsor:
This week's talk is co-sponsored by The Science of Networks in Communities (SONIC) research group.
Abstract:
From the schoolyard to the boardroom, the pressures of cultural assimilation pervade all walks of social life. Yet people vary in the capacity to fit in culturally, and their fit can wax and wane over time. We examine how individual cognition and social influence produce variation and change in cultural fit. We do so by lifting the curtain between the backstage (cognition) and frontstage (behavior) of cultural fit. We theorize that the backstage comprises two analytically distinct dimensions—perceptual accuracy and value congruence—and that the former matters for normative compliance on the frontstage, whereas the latter does not. We further propose that a person’s behavior and perceptual accuracy are both influenced by observations of others’ behavior, whereas value congruence is less susceptible to peer influence. Drawing on email and survey data from a mid-sized technology firm, we use the tools of computational linguistics and machine learning to develop longitudinal measures of frontstage and backstage cultural fit. We also take advantage of a reorganization that produced quasi-exogenous shifts in employees’ peer groups to identify the causal impact of social influence.
Speaker Bio:
Sameer B. Srivastava is Assistant Professor and Harold Furst Chair in Management Philosophy and Values at UC Berkeley's Haas School of Business and is also affiliated with UC Berkeley Sociology. His research unpacks the complex interrelationships among the culture of social groups, the cognition of individuals within these groups, and the connections that people forge within and across groups. Much of his work is set in organizational contexts, where he uses computational methods to examine how culture, cognition, and networks independently and jointly relate to career outcomes. His work has been published in scholarly journals such as American Journal of Sociology, American Sociological Review, Management Science, and Organization Science. It has been covered in media outlets such as Fortune, The Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, and Forbes. Sameer teaches a popular MBA elective course, Power and Politics in Organizations, and co-directs the Berkeley-Stanford Computational Culture Lab.
About the Speaker Series:
Wednesdays@NICO is a vibrant weekly seminar series focusing broadly on the topics of complex systems and data science. It brings together attendees ranging from graduate students to senior faculty who span all of the schools across Northwestern, from applied math to sociology to biology and every discipline in-between.
Live Stream:
Time
Wednesday, February 7, 2018 at 12:00 PM - 1:00 PM
Location
Lower Level, Chambers Hall Map
Contact
Calendar
Northwestern Institute on Complex Systems (NICO)
WED@NICO SEMINAR: Sourav Medya, University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) "AI for Patents: Progress, Pitfalls, and Potential"
Northwestern Institute on Complex Systems (NICO)
12:00 PM
//
Lower Level, Chambers Hall
Details
Speaker:
Sourav Medya, Assistant Professor, Department of Computer Science, University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC)
Title:
AI for Patents: Progress, Pitfalls, and Potential
Abstract:
As the volume and complexity of patent data continue to grow, artificial intelligence offers powerful tools to transform how we analyze, manage, and generate intellectual property. This talk explores how AI—through the lenses of graph learning, multimodal modeling, and large language models—can be harnessed to enhance various aspects of the patent process. First, we will discuss how graph learning can uncover hidden structures among patents and provide insights into patent valuation. Next, we will explore the role of multimodal learning in understanding design patents by combining visual and textual features for improved patent-related tasks—such as patent classification and retrieval. Finally, we examine the emerging potential of large language models (LLMs) in assisting with patent drafting and refinement, making patent drafting more accessible. Together, these approaches highlight a new frontier in AI-assisted patent systems—where multimodal patent data can be jointly leveraged to support innovation, efficiency, and decision-making in the patent ecosystem. We will conclude the talk with some interesting research directions.
Speaker Bio:
Sourav Medya is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Computer Science at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC). His research focuses on the problems at the intersection of graphs, machine learning, and data science with a focus on bias, fairness, and interpretability. He also builds machine learning based techniques that have high impact in the areas such as healthcare, infrastructure, and computational social science.
Before joining UIC, Sourav was a research assistant professor in the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University and the Northwestern Institute on Complex Systems (NICO). He received his Ph.D in Computer Science from University of California, Santa Barbara, and he received a Master of Engineering degree in Computer Science and Automation Department from Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bangalore, India.
Location:
In person: Chambers Hall, 600 Foster Street, Lower Level
Remote option: https://northwestern.zoom.us/j/91291365825
Passcode: NICO25
About the Speaker Series:
Wednesdays@NICO is a vibrant weekly seminar series focusing broadly on the topics of complex systems, data science and network science. It brings together attendees ranging from graduate students to senior faculty who span all of the schools across Northwestern, from applied math to sociology to biology and every discipline in-between. Please visit: https://bit.ly/WedatNICO for information on future speakers.
Time
Wednesday, April 9, 2025 at 12:00 PM - 1:00 PM
Location
Lower Level, Chambers Hall Map
Contact
Calendar
Northwestern Institute on Complex Systems (NICO)