Bill Rand

Choice Modeling With Context Effects: Generalization for Observational Data Established procedures of analyzing the effect of context on choice consider simple, compact environments in laboratory settings. However, these approaches severely limit the study of context effects...

"Choice Modeling With Context Effects" is out (since Fall, I'm slow! 🐢). We apply context effects to real-world data.

Major props to Emil Mirzayev for the modeling work & Zak Babutsidze for the guidance.

onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...

#BehavioralEconomics #DataScience

Chris Kempes discussing universal laws of life for the dinner keynote at CSS 2025.

Aaron Frank discussing an agent-based model of political elite dynamics at CSS 2025.

Tim Gulden presenting his work with Aaron Frank and Ryan Brown on using LLMs as engines for social simulation.

Andrew Crooks describing his work on modeling wildfire evacuations at CSS 2025.

Matt Koehler discussing how to detect critical slowing down at CSSSA.

Stefani Crabtree discussing how to use computational modeling to improve archaeology.

Corinna Eisenbroich discussing Agents and Agency in a Complex World.

@troytassier.bsky.social

The Rich Flee and the Poor Take the Bus How Our Unequal Society Fails Us during Outbreaks

Troy Tassier has written a fascinating look at how the pandemic has differential effects across socioeconomic classes. Not only is it well researched but it balances data with individual stories that make those facts personal.

share.google/7e7msl8SFGmX...

How NFTs could transform health information exchange Can patients regain control over their health information?

NFTs are a great technology, and are valuable for tracing the ownership of digital assets. But instead of using them to own Lazy Apes why not use them to help provide better control over health data.

How NFTs could transform health information exchange | Science share.google/8gqI6fKksIxu...

Bill Rand Appointed New Goodnight Executive Director of IAA Goodnight Executive Director of the Institute for Advanced Analytics Michael Rappa is returning to the faculty in the Department of Computer Science in the College of Engineering, and Bill Rand will b...

Excited to start a new position today as the Goodnight Executive Director of the Institute for Advanced Analytics. Looking forward to working with the hard-working and student-driven staff and faculty of one of the most preeminent analytics / data science programs.

provost.ncsu.edu/news/2025/06...

Ravi Bapna discussing the effects of ChatGPT usage on student performance.

Samandra Bhattacharyya discussing how to use LLMs in prioritizing social media content at SCECR 2025.

Jeff Inman discussing the effect of generative AI on the online review landscape.

Amna Kirmani discussing how AI helps and hurts relationship building.

Bernd Skiera discussing how to do large scale student evaluation with AI.

Bernd Schmidt discussing the preferences for human vs robotic salespeople.

A popular college major has one of the highest unemployment rates "Every kid with a laptop thinks they're the next Zuckerberg, but most can't debug their way out of a paper bag," one expert told Newsweek.

As a professor, I often get asked what major someone should choose in college. And I would always say that Computer Science was always a good choice. However, with the growth of generative AI coding recent graduates in CS have one of the highest unemployment rates.

www.newsweek.com/computer-sci...

Four Faculty Members Win the 2025 Outstanding Research Award Felix N. Castellano, Bill Rand, Melanie Simpson and Ross Sozzani won the 2025 Outstanding Research Award — the university’s top honor recognizing faculty who lead in their fields, commit to mentoring ...

I'm honored to be one of only four recipients of this year's NC State (@ncstate.bsky.social) Alumni Association Outstanding Research Award.

research.ncsu.edu/four-faculty...

Accelerating scientific breakthroughs with an AI co-scientist

Google is working on an AI co-Scientist. They have already shown that it can generate novel and interesting hypotheses, but the coolest part of this is that they demonstrated that those hypotheses actually led to valuable research results.

research.google/blog/acceler...

EXPRESS: How Firms Can Steer Social Media Conversations - Mohammad “Mike” Saljoughian, Kelly Hewett, Harald J. van Heerde, William “Bill” Rand, 2025 Many firms struggle with how to craft their messages in conversations with customers on social media. The problem is compounded by the fact that these conversat...

I'm excited to announce that our paper on "How Firms Can Steer Social Media Conversations" with Mike Saljoughian, Kelly Hewett, and Harald van Heerde has been accepted for publication at the Journal of Marketing Research.

journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...

DeepSeek R1’s bold bet on reinforcement learning: How it outpaced OpenAI at 3% of the cost DeepSeek R1’s Monday release has sent shockwaves through the AI community, disrupting assumptions about what’s required to achieve cutting-edge AI performance. This story focuses on exactly how DeepSeek managed this feat, and what it means for the vast number of users of AI models. For enterprises developing AI-driven solutions, DeepSeek’s breakthrough challenges assumptions of OpenAI's dominance -- and offers a blueprint for cost-efficient innovation.

If you want a slightly more technical description of how DeepSeek scared American AI investors, this Venture Beat article is pretty good, without being a full on academic paper.

venturebeat.com/ai/deepseek-...

I like the idea of an AI that challenges our basic assumptions, but isn't that how you get SkyNet?

cacm.acm.org/opinion/ai-s...

🚨 We're Hiring! 🚨

Are you an expert in marketing research and/or brand promotion? Want to teach and mentor future marketers? @ncstate.bsky.social Poole College of Management is looking for a Lecturer in Marketing to join our team!

Apply here: jobs.ncsu.edu/postings/213...

Green AI | Communications of the ACM Creating efficiency in AI research will decrease its carbon footprint and increase its inclusivity as deep learning study should not require the deepest pockets.

I like the idea of branding all AI that does not specifically account for environmental impact as Red AI. But maybe we could go stronger: Damaging AI? Deadly AI? Earth Destroying AI?

dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/...

How privacy’s past may shape its future An account of privacy’s evolutionary roots may hold lessons for policies in the digital age

Our need for privacy evolved from a need for physical security, which explains why we don't understand the danger of silicon valley. We don't have physical clues. Every time you are online just imagine some creepy guy in a trench coach standing right next to you.

www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Amazing book that really dives into the intersection of socioeconomic inequality and pandemics...

Binary search for the win!

Beautiful and intriguing photos....