@spencerallen.bsky.social
PhD Student @umsociology.bsky.social @um-psc.bsky.social | Managing Editor @ Social Science Research | Demography, Population Health, Politics, Internet | Alum @dartmouthartsci.bsky.social | 1st Gen & Alaska
I’m a sewage system. I also have a great personality.
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Social Science Research is preparing a special issue focused on a critical but underexplored dimension of AI: its role in widening or narrowing social inequalities. The deadline for abstracts is now Nov 17th. Read more here: www.sciencedirect.com/special-issu...
Free to read! New research in Socius from ASA member Spencer Allen @spencerallen.bsky.social @um-psc.bsky.social shows that, while broadband access has increased in the U.S. since 2013, gaps by race, education, and poverty still persist. @sociusjournal.bsky.social
Excited to share my recent publication in @sociusjournal.bsky.social ! Despite improvements to home broadband, racial/ethnic, educational, and income disparities continue to prevent equitable internet access. We can’t assume that everyone is online, and policy can address cost and access limitations
@spencerallen.bsky.social: tell me you're a @burgards.bsky.social student without telling me you're a @burgards.bsky.social student.
We are the #BakersAndTheBest sometimes @um-psc.bsky.social because of our amazing trainees like @spencerallen.bsky.social 💛💙🧁
Shout out to @spencerallen.bsky.social for starting our short week off right! Thanks for sharing with us! #GoBlue 😋
My employer, Dartmouth College, is only Ivy not to sign a "defend higher ed" letter. But as our newspaper reports, an uncommonly high number of mild-mannered faculty have signed a letter demanding that our president join the fight. Even the economists. www.thedartmouth.com/article/2025...
Very busy morning in Ann Arbor, where I’ve spent the morning baking a copious quantity of Maize & Blue Chocolate Chip Cookies for @umsociology.bsky.social’s grad student recruitment this week!
When the world is falling apart and you have a bottle of pure NH maple syrup that’s about to go bad, you make maple cupcakes! Thanks @sashakillewald.bsky.social for the recipe 🧁🍁
My latest @npr.org story: Because of a Trump executive order, the Census Bureau is stopping work on statistics that could help protect the rights of transgender people, Robert Santos confirms to NPR in his first published interview since resigning as the bureau's director
not sure what's worse about the DOGE site: unsecured databases, leaking of classified information, or these chart crimes
Happy Valentine’s Day to all the infectious diseases of the world, may your love spread voraciously as public agencies have a harder time tracking and preventing your existence 😷🤒
In my expert opinion, grad school is significantly more palatable with an Alaska-shaped cheese board
It’s my understanding ICPSR is hybrid. Not sure how long that’s been the case, but I know folks who took some courses remotely and seemed to enjoy them.
I think I chose the most inopportune historical moment to submit an NSF graduate research fellowship proposal on “Political Polarization in Education and Health Outcomes” 🙃😭
A new #umichresearch study by @um-psc.bsky.social trainee @spencerallen.bsky.social found that broadband connection was a key factor in reducing mortality and incidence during the early COVID pandemic. From Michigan News: news.umich.edu/digital-life...
Congrats!
My pub took north of 1,550 days (thanks Excel!) from start to finish to complete. So much has happened in that time…
I imagine this is a miscommunication. When I interview prospective UGs for Dartmouth, it’s common for them to say “I’m applying for X major” when they’re only admitted to the college, not a dept. The student may want to take Tuck or Tuck-adjacent Econ classes, but the nuance got lost somewhere.
🎊 We're proud to share the first publication from @um-psc.bsky.social trainee @spencerallen.bsky.social. The findings in this 🧵, which show how internet access mattered for COVID outcomes, are reported just as net neutrality has been struck down in federal court. @umisr.bsky.social #UMich
This paper was a labor of love, and I’m grateful for all the guidance I’ve received from mentors, colleagues and friends @dartmouthartsci.bsky.social (I’m especially indebted to my UG advisor Jason Houle) @umsociology.bsky.social @um-psc.bsky.social and elsewhere. 9/9
In sum, I find evidence that internet access was a net-positive for COVID-19 outcomes in the US. Despite this, internet access remains unequally allocated in the US and around the world, and more robust efforts are needed to close the digital divide. 8/
(3) Internet access was also negatively associated with COVID-19 deaths. In fact, high internet access counties were predicted to have ~ 50% of the COVID-19 deaths as low internet access counties. This association was similarly robust across all time periods 7/
(2) Internet access was negatively associated with COVID-19 cases in summer and fall 2020, but that effect grew weaker in longer time periods. 6/
I have three main findings: (1) Internet access was positively associated with masking in July 2020, but the effect size in a fully controlled model is modest. 5/
Unlike prior studies, I focus on the summer and fall of 2020 and use three time periods (4, 8, and 12 wks from July 14, 2020) to better understand the pre-vaccine period and to gauge the pandemic’s momentum. 4/
In this paper, I argue that internet access was actually *useful* in spreading true information about masking and subsequently reducing COVID-19 case and death rates in the US. 3/
