Ken Kolb
@kenkolb.bsky.social
Sociologist in the middle of a career change
ASA is pleased to announce the 2026–2027 cohort of its Policy Outreach Program (POP) Fellowship, which aims to strengthen connections between sociological research and policymakers, legislative offices, think tanks, and other policy leaders. Read about the fellows here: https://bit.ly/4fCa0N5
If you are looking for a mathematical model of wildfire smoke forecasts, @noaa has the best. This page is not user friendly, but gives you what you need. rapidrefresh.noaa.gov/hrrr/HRRRsmo...
HRRR-Smoke Graphics
The Rapid Refresh is a high-frequency weather forecast (numerical weather prediction) and data assimilation system, planned to replace the RUC in NCEP operations by early 2010. This Rapid Refr...
rapidrefresh.noaa.gov
Leaving academia? How to look before you leap into the world of non-profit applied research orgs. open.substack.com/pub/kenkolb/...
Every southerner: “that’s not how this works, that’s not how any of this works”
After leaving academia, and still being able to be a sociologist, every day I get to read soc research to prep for a project feels like a gift.
Can’t say it enough. If you are following shipping, oil markets, or how waterways are governed, Sal is your guy.
What's Going on With Shipping (Sal Mercogliano)@mercoglianos.bsky.social · 3mo agoPersian Gulf Standoff 1⃣US Destroyer Withdrawal 2⃣Iranian Attacks and Seizure of Chinese Tanker 3⃣US Strikes Iranian Tankers 4⃣Visual Breakdown of Strikes on Sea Strike III & Sevda 5⃣Upcoming "Great Battleship Debate"
Along with @jillfilipovic.bsky.social, I was on the @thebrianlehrershow.bsky.social this morning to help interpret US birth rates and discuss current efforts to raise them. wnyc.org/browse/shows...
Looks like a good job if you're looking to make a move out of academia #sociology #altac job-boards.greenhouse.io/americaninst...
Senior Researcher, Human and Community Development
US-Remote
job-boards.greenhouse.io
Listening to @wwozneworleans.bsky.social on the back porch and looking forward to moving back to New Orleans in the fall.
In the not so distant past, sociologists had lively discussions in places like the Scatterplot blog, soc twitter & the Annex Sociology podcast. What happened? Kudos to @philipncohen.com for carrying on his blog.
For those interested in external validity of vignette methods. A thread.
Alexander Wuttke@kunkakom.bsky.social · 5mo agoDo conjoint/factorial/vignette experiments reflect choices in the real world? Are hypothetical scenarios in the artificial survey context externally valid? Do hypothetical bias, intention-behavior gap and social desirability biases undermine validity? Two cautionary studies on this question:
Do you have to be a social scientist to know how funny this is?
My new job! thewaterinstitute.org/our-team/ken...
Ken Kolb - The Water Institute
The Water Institute is a not-for-profit, independent applied research and technical services institution with a mission to help coastal and deltaic communities thoughtfully prepare for an uncertain fu...
thewaterinstitute.org
It's been just over a year since many academics and sociology folks came over to Bluesky. Thought Id share for some more community building and the later arrivals. Feel free to add other sections and areas to the list and or request to be added to any packs!
What is the point of research if no one reads your stuff? 31% of World Bank policy reports are NEVER downloaded (not even once). documents1.worldbank.org/curated/en/3...
documents1.worldbank.org
Just setup my new work laptop. Oddly exhilarating. #careerchange
It's been a bit of a banner year for me professionally, particularly publications-wise; given that I remain on the job market, here are some of the highlights.
Working on a piece about "brain drain" and what Louisiana needs to do to keep homegrown talent. A brief thread of relevant facts 1/n
Big career news coming soon from me. I'm giving up tenure and leaving academia. Super excited about this next chapter to come!
