Carter Tribley Butts

About

My research involves the development and application of mathematical, computational, and statistical techniques to theoretical and methodological problems within the areas of social and biophysical network analysis, mathematical sociology, quantitative methodology, molecular modeling/analysis, and human judgment and decision making.

Research topics

• Medicine
• Biology
• Sociology
• Geography
• Environmental health
• Virology
• Machine Learning
• Data Mining
• Psychology
• Mathematics

Selected publications

• Spatial heterogeneity can lead to substantial local variations in COVID-19 timing and severity

  Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · 2020 · 136 citations

  Senior authorCorresponding

  Standard epidemiological models for COVID-19 employ variants of compartment (SIR or susceptible-infectious-recovered) models at local scales, implicitly assuming spatially uniform local mixing. Here, we examine the effect of employing more geographically detailed diffusion models based on known spatial features of interpersonal networks, most particularly the presence of a long-tailed but monotone decline in the probability of interaction with distance, on disease diffusion. Based on simulations…

  DOI

• Sequence Characterization and Molecular Modeling of Clinically Relevant Variants of the SARS-CoV-2 Main Protease

  Biochemistry · 2020 · 44 citations

  The SARS-CoV-2 main protease (M(pro)) is essential to viral replication and cleaves highly specific substrate sequences, making it an obvious target for inhibitor design. However, as for any virus, SARS-CoV-2 is subject to constant neutral drift and selection pressure, with new M(pro) mutations arising over time. Identification and structural characterization of M(pro) variants is thus critical for robust inhibitor design. Here we report sequence analysis, structure predictions, and molecular mo…

  DOI

• Geographical patterns of social cohesion drive disparities in early COVID infection hazard

  Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · 2022 · 21 citations

  Senior authorCorresponding

  The uneven spread of COVID-19 has resulted in disparate experiences for marginalized populations in urban centers. Using computational models, we examine the effects of local cohesion on COVID-19 spread in social contact networks for the city of San Francisco, finding that more early COVID-19 infections occur in areas with strong local cohesion. This spatially correlated process tends to affect Black and Hispanic communities more than their non-Hispanic White counterparts. Local social cohesion…

  DOI

• Model Adequacy Checking/Goodness-of-fit Testing for Behavior in Joint Dynamic Network/Behavior Models, with an Extension to Two-mode Networks

  Sociological Methods & Research · 2020 · 11 citations

  The recent popularity of models that capture the dynamic coevolution of both network structure and behavior has driven the need for summary indices to assess the adequacy of these models to reproduce dynamic properties of scientific or practical importance. Whereas there are several existing indices for assessing the ability of the model to reproduce network structure over time, to date there are few indices for assessing the ability of the model to reproduce individuals’ behavior patterns. Draw…

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• A multi-contextual examination of non-school friendships and their impact on adolescent deviance and alcohol use

  PLoS ONE · 2021 · 5 citations

  Despite decades of research on adolescent friendships, little is known about adolescents who are more likely to form ties outside of school. We examine multiple social and ecological contexts including parents, the school, social networks, and the neighborhood to understand the origins and health significance of out of school ties using survey data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health (N = 81,674). Findings indicate that out of school (more than in-school) friendshi…

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

Recent grants

• RAPID/Collaborative Research: Agency COVID-19 Risk Communication on Social Media: Characterizing Drivers of Message Retransmission and Engagement

  NSF · $98k · 2020–2022

• Collaborative Research: Informal Online Communication in Extreme Events: Content, Dynamics, and Structure

  NSF · $310k · 2010–2014

• Statistical Models for Dynamic Networks with Endogenous Vertex Migration

  NSF · $350k · 2018–2022

Frequent coauthors

• Rachel W. Martin

  University of Oxford

  39 shared

• Zack W. Almquist

  University of Washington

  33 shared

• John R. Hipp

  University of California, Irvine

  32 shared

• Athina Markopoulou

  31 shared

• Jeannette Sutton

  University at Albany, State University of New York

  24 shared

• Pavel N. Krivitsky

  UNSW Sydney

  24 shared

• Minas Gjoka

  Google (United States)

  22 shared

• Maciej Kurant

  University of California, Irvine

  20 shared

Education

• Ph.D., Social and Decision Sciences

  Carnegie Mellon University

• M.S.

  Carnegie Mellon University

• B.S.

  Duke University

Awards & honors

• Leo A. Goodman Award
• Linton C. Freeman Award
• William Richards Awards
• Kavli Fellow
• Fellow of the AAAS

Similar researchers at University of California, Irvine

• Edwin Amentah-37
• Nina Bandeljh-22
• Stanley R. Baileyh-21