Dan O’Brien, Ph.D., is the research director for the Boston Area Research Initiative at Harvard University’s Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, a project that seeks to spur original research in the greater Boston area that advances both social science and policy. A major component of this effort is to forge active collaborations between researchers, policymakers, practitioners and civic leaders. His own research focuses on the psychology and sociology of neighborhoods, including questions like: How do people perceive and define “neighborhood”? How do the actions of individuals influence the well-being of a neighborhood? How do the physical and social conditions of a neighborhood influence people’s behavior?

During the fall 2012 term he taught a course titled “Mapping and Analyzing Social Patterns in Greater Boston” (SOC 157). Students will learn the skills for constructing maps from spatial data, and the statistical techniques necessary to interpret them, while working with a data library describing the greater Boston area (provided by the Boston Area Research Initiative). The course will also explore the theoretical questions and challenges surrounding the study of urban areas.