I am an Assistant Professor at the University of Michigan School of Information. My research is at the intersection of science of science and sociology of organizations: I study how social and institutional factors affect scientific discovery. I am especially interested in how scientific work is valued, both through metrics and qualitative judgments like peer review, biases in scientific literatures, and diffusion of science to the public. Methodologically, I rely on field experiments in organizations and applying computational tools to large-scale observational data.

Current research projects include

• Cumulative advantage in science: Do metrics like citation counts and impact factors reflect quality and influence, or help create them?

• Social valuation: How do evaluators influence each other?

• Science and the media: What research is picked up by the media, and how is it covered?

• Information diffusion and learning: What is the effect of academic conferences on spreading ideas?

Previously, I was a Postdoc at the Laboratory for Innovation Science at Harvard (LISH). I received my PhD in Sociology from the University of Chicago, where I was a member of KnowledgeLab.

See my CV for papers and links.

Office: North Quad #3369, 105 S State St

Email: tepl @ umich . edu