Faculty DirectoryDashun Wang
Professor of Industrial Engineering and Management Sciences
Professor of Management and Organizations
Director, Center for Science of Science and Innovation (CSSI)
Contact
2145 Sheridan RoadTech C210
Evanston, IL 60208-3109
Email Dashun Wang
Website
Centers
Center for Science of Science and Innovation (CSSI)
Northwestern Institute on Complex Systems (NICO)
Departments
Industrial Engineering and Management Sciences
Education
Ph.D, 2013, Physics, Northeastern University
M.S., 2009, Physics, Northeastern University
B.S., 2007, Physics, Fudan University
Biography
Dashun Wang is a Professor at the Kellogg School of Management and McCormick School of Engineering at Northwestern University. He is the Founding Director of the Center for Science of Science and Innovation (CSSI). He is also a core faculty at the Northwestern Institute on Complex Systems (NICO). His current research focus is on Science of Science, a quest to turn the scientific methods and curiosities upon ourselves, hoping to use and develop tools from complexity sciences and artificial intelligence to broadly explore the opportunities for innovation and promises of prosperity offered by the recent data explosion in science. His research has been published in journals like Nature and Science, and has been featured in virtually all major global media outlets. Dashun is a recipient of multiple awards for his research and teaching, including the AFOSR Young Investigator award, Poets & Quants Best 40 Under 40 Professors, Complex Systems Society’s Junior Scientific Award, the Erdos-Renyi Prize, Thinkers50 Radar, and more. Check out his first book: The Science of Science.
Research Interests
Dashun Wang leads a a group of highly interdisciplinary researchers who are all extremely passionate about data. His research takes a multidisciplinary approach—combining statistical physics, computer science, and computational social science—to exploit the opportunities and promises offered by Big Data. Through the lens of new and increasingly available large-scale datasets, we hope to use and develop tools of network science to help improve the way in which we understand the interconnectedness of the social, technical, and business world around us. His research has been published in such general audience journals as Nature, Science, PNAS, Nature Human Behaviour, Nature Physics, Nature Reviews Physics, Nature Machine Intelligence, Nature Communications, and more. It has been featured in virtually all major global media outlets, including The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, The Economist, Bloomberg, Financial Times, The Today Show, Harvard Business Review, The Atlantic, World Economic Forum, Forbes, The Guardian, The Washington Post, and The Boston Globe, among others.
Significant Recognition
- Erdős–Rényi Prize from The Network Science Society (2021)
- Thinkers50 Radar Class of 2021 (2021)
- Junior Scientific Award from the Complex Systems Society (2020)
- Poets & Quants Best 40 Under 40 Professors (2019)
- AFOSR Young Investigator award (2016)
Selected Publications
“Potentially long-lasting effects of the pandemic on scientists.” Jian Gao, Yian Yin, Kyle R. Myers, Karim R. Lakhani & Dashun Wang. Nature Communications, 2021. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-021-26428-z
“Understanding the onset of hot streaks across artistic, cultural, and scientific careers.” Lu Liu, Nima Dehmamy, Jillian Chown, C. Lee Giles & Dashun Wang. Nature Communications, 2021. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-021-25477-8
“Coevolution of policy and science during the pandemic.” Yian Yin, Jian Gao, Benjamin F. Jones & Dashun Wang. Science, 2021. https://science.sciencemag.org/content/371/6525/128
“Unequal effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on scientists.” Kyle R. Myers, Wei Yang Tham, Yian Yin, Nina Cohodes, Jerry G. Thursby, Marie C. Thursby, Peter Schiffer, Joseph T. Walsh, Karim R. Lakhani & Dashun Wang. Nature Human Behaviour, 2020. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41562-020-0921-y
“Scientific elite revisited: patterns of productivity, collaboration, authorship and impact.” Jichao Li, Yian Yin, Santo Fortunato & Dashun Wang. Journal of the Royal Society Interface, 2020. https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rsif.2020.0135
“Revealing the predictability of intrinsic structure in complex networks.” Jiachen Sun, Ling Feng, Jiarong Xie, Xiao Ma, Dashun Wang & Yanqing Hu. Nature Communications, 2020. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-020-14418-6
“Quantifying the dynamics of failure across science, startups and security.” Yian Yin, Yang Wang, James A. Evans & Dashun Wang. Nature, 2019. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-019-1725-y
“Early-career setback and future career impact.” Yang Wang, Benjamin F. Jones & Dashun Wang. Nature Communications, 2019. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-019-12189-3
“Nobel laureates are almost the same as us.” Jichao Li, Yian Yin, Santo Fortunato & Dashun Wang. Nature Review Physics, 2019. https://www.nature.com/articles/s42254-019-0057-z
“Large teams develop and small teams disrupt science and technology.” Lingfei Wu, Dashun Wang & James A. Evans. Nature, 2019. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-019-0941-9
Dashun Wang and Albert-Laszlo Barabasi, The Science of Science, Cambridge University Press, 2021.
Santo Fortunato, Carl T. Bergstrom, Katy Borner, James A. Evans, Dirk Helbing, Stasa Milojevic, Alexander M. Petersen, Filippo Radicchi, Roberta Sinatra, Brian Uzzi, Alessandro Vespignani, Ludo Waltman, Dashun Wang, Albert-Laszlo Barabasi, Science of Science. Science, 2018.
Lu Liu, Yang Wang, Roberta Sinatra, C. Lee Giles, Chaoming Song, and Dashun Wang, Hot Streaks in Artistic, Cultural, and Scientific Careers. Nature, 2018.
Roberta Sinatra, Dashun Wang, Pierre Deville, Chaoming Song, and Albert-Laszlo Barabasi, Quantifying the evolution of individual scientific impact, Science, 354, 6312 (2016).\
DashunWang, Chaoming Song, and Albert-Laszlo Barabasi, Quantifying Longterm Scientific Impact. Science, 342, 6154 (2013): 127-132. [Cover Article]