Audience Tools

Specializations

  • Collective Behaviour
  • Complexity Science
  • Behavioural Ecology

Research Areas

Biography

Dr. Joe Bak-Coleman is a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Washington Center for an Informed Public. His research focuses on how the actions and interactions of group members give rise to broader patterns of collective action. He is particularly interested in understanding how communication technology alters collective decision-making and the spread of information. To ask these questions, he uses a combination of online experiments, observational data and mathematical modelling.

Joe Bak-Coleman earned his Ph.D. in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at Princeton University. Prior to working on human collective behaviour, he studied the behaviour of animal groups zebra herds to fish schools.

Education

  • Ph D, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Princeton University, 2021
  • MA, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Princeton University, 2016
  • MS, Biology, Bowling Green State University, 2014
  • BS, Neuroscience, Bowling Green State University, 2011

Awards

  • Bioinformatics Scholarship - Choose Ohio First for Bioinformatics, 2009-2011
  • Summer Research Fellowship - Center for Undergraduate Research and Scholarship, 2011
  • Travel Award - Flow Sensing in Air and Water, 2011
  • Summer Research Fellowship - Science, Engineering, Technology Gateway Ohio, 2010

Publications and Contributions

  • Journal Article, Academic Journal
    Information gerrymandering in social networks skews collective decision-making (2019)
    Nature: News & Views, Volume 573, Page 40-41 Authors: Carl T. Bergstrom, Joseph Bak-Coleman
  • Journal Article, Academic Journal
    Structural encoding of perceived risk in fish schools (2019)
    PNAS Authors: M. Sosna, C. Twomey, Joseph Bak-Coleman, W. Poel, B. Daniels, P. Romanczuk, I. Couzin
  • Journal Article, Academic Journal
    Counteracting estimation bias and social in influence to improve the wisdom of crowds (2018)
    Journal of the Royal Society, Interface , Volume 15 Authors: A. Kao, A. Berdahl, A. Hartnett, Joseph Bak-Coleman, M. Lutz, C. Ioannou, X. Giam, I. Couzin
  • Magazine/Trade Publication
    The ignorance of the crowd (2017)
    Scientic American Author: Joseph Bak-Coleman
  • Magazine/Trade Publication
    Why did Donald Trump get elected? Ask the bees (2016)
    Wired Author: Joseph Bak-Coleman
  • Journal Article, Academic Journal
    Going with, then against the flow: Evidence against the optomotor hypothesis of fish rheotaxis (2015)
    Animal Behaviour, Volume 107 Authors: Joseph Bak-Coleman, D. Smith, S. Coombs
  • Journal Article, Academic Journal
    Rheotaxis performance increases with group size in a coupled phase model with sensory noise (2015)
    European Physical Journal: Special Topics, Volume 224 Authors: A. Chicoli, Joseph Bak-Coleman, S. Coombs, D. A. Paley,
  • Journal Article, Academic Journal
    The lateral line is necessary for blind cavesh rheotaxis in non-uniform flow (2015)
    Journal of Experimental Biology, Volume 218 Authors: M. Kulpa, Joseph Bak-Coleman, S. Coombs
  • Journal Article, Academic Journal
    Sedentary behavior as a factor in determining lateral line contributions to rheotaxis (2014)
    Journal of Experimental Biology, Volume 217 Authors: Joseph Bak-Coleman, S. Coombs
  • Journal Article, Academic Journal
    The effects of flow on schooling Devario aequipinnatus: school structure, startle response and information transmission (2014)
    Journal of fish Biology Authors: A. Chicoli, S. Butail, Y Lun, Joseph Bak-Coleman, S. Coombs, D. Paley
  • Journal Article, Academic Journal
    The spatiotemporal dynamics of rheotactic behavior depends on flow speed and available sensory information (2013)
    The Journal of experimental biology, Issue 216 Authors: Joseph Bak-Coleman, A. Court, D. Paley, S. Coombs
  • Journal Article, Academic Journal
    Energy savings in freely swimming fish
    Nature Communications Authors: L. Liang, M. Nagy, J. Graving, Joseph Bak-Coleman, J. Xie, I. Couzin

Presentations

  • Collective Folly on Politically Polarized Social Networks (2018)
    Integrated Behavioral Research Group (Princeton University) - Princeton, NJ
  • Going with the flow: How do fish know which way is upstream? (2016)
    Integrated Behavioral Research Group (Princeton University) - Princeton, NJ
  • The spatiotemporal dynamics of rheotaxis in stream-dwelling fish under different flow and sensory conditions (2012)
    International Congress of Neuroethology - College Park, MD