Dr. Matthew E. Brashears will join the faculty of the Sociology Department this fall. He earned his Ph.D. in Sociology from the University of Arizona. He is primarily interested in social networks, with particular emphasis on the connections between networks and social psychology. His current research focuses on linking cognition to social network structure, studying the effects of error and error correction on diffusion dynamics, and using ecological models to connect individual behavior to collective dynamics. He is also interested in covert social networks. His research has been supported by the National Science Foundation, the Defense Threat Reduction Agency, and the Army Research Office, and has appeared in Nature Scientific Reports, the American Sociological Review, Social Networks, Sociological Science, and Social Psychology Quarterly. He currently serves on the editorial board for Social Psychology Quarterly.