Past Highlights

Fall 2025

Faster gains in children’s speech therapy with biofeedback

Drs. Tara McAllister and Jennifer Hill and colleagues find that biofeedback speech therapy improved children's pronunciation of the “r” sound 2.4 times faster than those in traditional methods during early therapy stages.

Using AI to promote race-blind charging decisions in prosecutions

Dr. Alex Chohlas-Wood’s work on a race-blind charging software with the Yolo County District Attorney’s Office in California was featured in a LAW360 press story.

Spring 2025

Getting it right for LGBTQIA+ individuals on surveys

Dr. Daphna Harel published a new article which discusses the different ways you can phrase questions about sex, gender, and sexuality on surveys and questionnaires.

Clinic site practices drive methadone treatment patterns pre/post-COVID

Dr. Marc Scott joined lead author Ignacio Bórquez Infante and colleagues in a study that examined dispensing practices among opioid treatment programs in the US using sequence analysis.

Is the STEM gender gap closing or widening at US universities?

Dr. Joseph Cimpian and NYU doctoral student, Jo R. King, reveal that the substantial gender gap in physics, engineering, and computer science (PECS) has narrowed at selective institutions serving students with high math SAT scores but widened at less selective schools.

Professional development program helps to train and retain NYC science teachers

Dr. Meryle Weinstein and colleagues find that Urban Advantage, a professional development science initiative in NYC, reduces middle school science teacher turnover.

Disentangling genetic from environmental influences on human traits

Dr. Klint Kanopka and a colleague published a paper introducing the phenotype differences model.

Do fast-food calorie labels have an impact?

Drs. Todor Mijanovich and Beth Weitzman and colleagues published two papers on the impacts of calorie labels in fast food venues.

Unequal access: Telehealth gaps in addiction care during COVID-19

Dr. Tod Mijanovich and colleagues find that while Black and Latinx Medicaid beneficiaries in NY faced disparities in accessing telehealth for substance use disorder treatment during the first six months of the pandemic, clinics heavily serving Medicaid patients showed some promise in reducing these inequities.

New police misconduct lawsuit database to combat inequity

Dr. Alex Chohlas-Wood received a seed grant from the Public Interest Technology University Network (PIT-UN) to pilot public interest technology that will assemble a national database of police misconduct lawsuits.

Fall 2024

Drs. Scott and Hill awarded IES grant

PRIISM co-directors Drs. Scott and Hill along with visiting assistant professor Perrett were awarded a $900,000 grant by the Institute of Education Sciences (IES).

Causal Language and Statistics Instruction

PRIISM co-director Dr. Hill and core PRIISM faculty Perrett and Dr. Bergner published a paper with colleagues in the Statistics Education Research Journal that uses a randomized experiment to explore how students interpret language used to describe research findings.

Queer Data Lab

The NYU Queering and Elevating Empirical Research (QUEER) data lab aims to improve data collection and statistical analysis as it pertains to improving the lives of the LGBTQIA+ community.

US Math Teachers' Views on Student Performance

Dr. Joseph Cimpian and colleague find that teachers hold different views on why girls are good at math than they do for boys.

Does question ordering matter on a survey or exam?

Dr. Klint Kanopka and colleague show what happens when response probability depends on item position and proposes a position-sensitive IRT model.

Tale of Two Cities: London and New York City during Covid-19

Dr. Marc Scott and PRIISM Affiliate Augustin de Coulon investigate the diffusion of COVID-19 across neighborhoods in two major cities, London and New York.

Spring 2024

Menu Labeling and Calories Purchased in Restaurants

Drs. Mijanovich, Weitzman and colleagues investigate whether providing nutrition information on menus is associated with calories purchased in an US fast food restaurant chain.

Tara McAllister Awarded $3 Million Grant

Dr. McAllister was awarded a $3 million grant to continue research to evaluate the effectiveness of in-person versus telepractice delivery of biofeedback intervention for speech sound disorder.

Online versus lab measures of speech perception

Drs. McAllister, Hill and colleagues show that valid measures of speech perception can be obtained both online and in person.

Student Self-Reports on Social-Emotional Surveys

Dr. Kanopka and colleagues show that changes in self-reported social-emotional measures predict changes in both achievement and attendance.

Academic Effects of Moving to Middle School

Kaitlyn O’Hagan, PRIISM researcher alum, and mentor Dr. Stiefel explore how the move to middle school differentially affects students with disabilities.

Fall 2023

Ethics and Predictive Data Science

Dr. Washington traveled to Australia to talk about her forthcoming book on predictive data science with other scholars and to meet with high level government officials to ensure legislative transparency is at the forefront of laws on technology.

Pretrial Release Judgements and Measuring Fairness

Dr. Shroff helps clarify understanding of pretrial release judgements and best practices regarding measuring fairness.

Artificial Intelligence and Speech Sound Disorders

Dr. McAllister and team improve understanding of how to help people with speech sound disorders.

Pandemic Impacts on Health and Equity

Dr. Scott highlights the impact of pandemics on health and equity.

The Power of Cultural Spaces to Make Positive Social Change in Conflict-Affected Contexts

Dr. King highlights the impact of cultural spaces in conflict-affected contexts.

Education and Hope in Nairobi and Karachi

Drs. King and Burde highlight the conflicting role of education in a recent article published in Comparative Education Review.

The Latest from the Journal on Education in Emergencies

Dr. Burde and her team focus on the impact of this pandemic and previous ones in the Journal on Education in Emergencies in a venue that provides space for academics in conflict-affected contexts in under-represented spaces.

The Impact of the Urban Advantage Program in NYC

Dr. Weinstein and colleagues explore the impact of the Urban Advantage program on students and teachers in NYC.

Teachers’ Race and Gender Biases in the Classroom

Dr. Cimpian helps us understand the relationship between teachers’ race and gender bias.

Mischievous Responders: New Findings!

Do survey respondents always report in good faith? Dr. Cimpian investigates!

Newly Published Stata and R textbooks

Drs. Harel and Weinberg announce new editions of Stata and R textbooks.

Fall 2022

Microsoft Funds Data Justice and Racial Equity Postdocs

Dr. Anne Washingson received a $375,000 gift from the Microsoft Corporation to fund two postdoctoral fellowships.

Efficacy of Treatment for Childhood Speech Sound Disorder

Dr. McAllister and Dr. Scott use machine learning to identify the impact of treatments on speech development trajectories.

The SuperDataScience Podcast with Dr. Jennifer Hill

Dr. Hill is interviewed on The SuperDataScience Podcast and discusses the challenges in answering causal questions and the role of machine learning and design.

Jamaican Creole, an Underrepresented Language Context

Dr. McAllister published a paper alongside CSD alum Annika Canta highlighting an underrepresented language context, Jamaican Creole.

Strategies for Getting More Honest Survey Responses

Drs. Burde, King, Harel, and Hill, and A3SR alum Seaman have published an article discussing how to elicit honest answers to sensitive questions.

Equity in Transportation Finance and Bus Provision

Dr. Meryle Weinstein and colleagues published a paper that examined equity in transportation finance and bus provision in the United States.

Dr. Harel Collaborates with McGill University

Dr. Harel is a co-investigator in a new study that will evaluate how data collection methods may influence sensitive mental health assessments.

Dr. Ravi Shroff Wins Outstanding Paper Award

Dr. Shroff wins the Outstanding Paper Award at the 2022 International Conference on Machine Learning (ICML) conference for work on causality and fairness.

Swallowing-related fatigue among older adults

Dr. Harel is co-author on a paper with Communicative Sciences and Disorders (CSD) colleagues.

Spring 2022

Government Use of Tech

Dr. Anne Washington participates in a Data & Society’s “What is Public Interest” event.

Drs. King and Samii receive Best Book Award!

Diversity, Violence & Recognition: How Recognizing Ethnic Identity Promotes Peace, Drs. Elisabeth King and Cyrus Samii's book, wins Best Book Award.

Sugary Beverage Taxes

Drs. Beth Weitzman and Todor Mijanovich are part of a team of investigators studying the impact of sugar-sweetened beverage taxes on changes in prices paid and calories consumed in fast food restaurants.

Causal Frameworks and Discrimination Studies

Drs. Ravi Shroff, Jennifer Hill and colleagues recently coauthored a paper on the causal effects of race or gender on outcomes in discrimination studies.

COVID-19 Vaccinations and School/Community Resources

Dr. Meryle Weinstein is a co-investigator on a new NIH funded project that examines how COVID has affected children’s health and education in NYC.

Shortening Patient Health Questionnaires

Dr. Daphna Harel and colleauges conducted the first study to externally validate the results of shortening a patient reported outcome measure through optimal test assembly.

Speech-Language Treatment Using Mobile App for Biofeedback

Dr. Tara McAllister and the BITS Lab team recently published an article that furthers the evidence-based research for mobile app-based treatments used by speech-language pathologists.

Fall 2021

Child Speech Therapy

Dr. Tara McAllister provides updates on her research on technology-enhanced speech treatments to support children with speech sound disorders.

Homelessness Risk Screening Tool for Emergency Department Patients

Dr. Tod Mijanovich and colleagues recently developed an interview tool for screening emergency department patients for risk of future homelessness.

The Ethics of Facial Recognition Technology

Dr. Anne Washington recently published an article on data privacy and was quoted in an MIT Technology Review article.

Using Technology to Help Doctors & Infant Healthcare Providers

Dr. Jennifer Hill's research shows how extending Item Response Theory models can help us understand how doctors learn from their mistakes and that in-hospital infant formula supplementation impacts later breastfeeding success.

The Use of Criminal Risk Assessments in the Justice System

Dr. Ravi Shroff recently co-authored a chapter that critically examines the use of statistical algorithms that help predict if people will be repeat offenders.

Summer 2021

Systemic Discrimination in Policing

Dr. Ravi Shroff has a forthcoming chapter in the upcoming 5th edition of Social Stratification.

Learners' Resilience in Tests and Collaborative Filtering

Dr. Yoav Bergner recently published an article on the interaction between resilience and ability in assessments. Be on the lookout for a forthcoming article in Psychometrika.

Journal on Education in Emergencies: Special issue on Early Childhood Development in Emergencies

Read the special issue on Early Childhood Development in Emergencies led by editor-in-chief and PRIISM associate faculty, Dr. Dana Burde and senior managing editor, Dr. Heddy Lahmann.