Resnik Speaks at National Academies’ Workshop on Socio-Cultural Dynamics

Philip Resnik, a professor of linguistics with a joint appointment in the University of Maryland Institute for Advanced Computer Studies, will be featured as a panelist this week at a workshop that examines changing socio-cultural dynamics and their implications for national security.

The Oct. 11 event, organized by the National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine, will be held at the Keck Center in Washington, D.C.

It is one of three workshops that day where data and testimony will be collected as part of the Decadal Survey of Social and Behavioral Sciences for Applications to National Security.

Resnik will join other experts to discuss “Cultural, Linguistic, and Behavioral Research and the Triangulation of Data.” His presentation, “The (In)Ability to Triangulate in Data-Driven Healthcare Research,” will focus on healthcare and mental health as a national security issue.

Resnik argues that healthcare and mental health research are prime candidates for big data analysis, with the potential for triangulating among the language of clinical narratives, structured data in medical records, and behavioral data in social media. However, he says, research in this area is currently hampered by researchers’ limited access to large scale data.

In his presentation, Resnik will discuss the challenges involved in this topic, examine areas of research that could be possible, and discuss potential solutions.