Yunus Emre Tapan

PhD Student at Northeastern University · tapan.y@northeastern.edu

I am a PhD Student in Political Science at Northeastern University. I earned my B.A. in Economics from Bogazici University and my M.Sc. in Middle East Studies from METU. My research sits at the intersection of data science and social sciences. I specialize in social network analysis and computational text analysis to study online polarization, online extremism and non-state actors with a particular focus on how they radicalize. I am a graduate of SICSS-Helsinki in 2018 and ICPSR Summer Program in 2020 as one of the recipients of the Scholarship for Political Science Research. I am co-organizer of Summer Institute in Computational Social Science in Istanbul. I am also the lead of Istanbul Twitter Develeoper Community.

Teaching Experience

Teaching Assistant

Northeastern University
  • Comparative Politics (POLS 1155), Spring 2023, Prof. Emily Clough
  • Globalization (INTL 1101), Fall 2022, Prof. Risa Katagawa
  • Government and Politics in the Middle East (POLS 3465), Spring 2022, Dr. Alice Verticelli
  • Globalization (INTL 1101), Spring 2022, Dr. Alice Verticelli
  • U.S. National Security Policy (POLS 3420), Fall 2021, Prof. Max Abrahms
  • International Relations (POLS 1160), Fall 2021, Prof. Max Abrahms
September 2021 – Present

co-organizer

Summer Institute in Computational Social Science-Istanbul
  • Teaching Assistant:In 2019 and 2020, my role was as TA who is responsible for communication, logistics and mentoring projects
  • From 2020, I am a co-organizer of the event in which I contribute to the design of the curriculum and prepare post-mortem of the event as well as my previous roles.
December 2018 - Present

Visiting Lecturer

Kadir Has University
  • Computational Thinking(lab instructor): An applied introduction to algorithmic thinking for complex problem solving tasks
  • Understanding Mathematics(lab instructor): Basic concepts of mathematics that will be of use to the students of any background using a modular teaching model
  • Civic Responsibility Project(sole instructor): A project-based introduction to the concept of social responsibility with theoretical knowledge and universal values
September 2020 – September 2021

Research Experience

NULab/DITI Research Fellow

Northeastern University
  • Developing educational modules and assignments
  • Identifying and reaching out to faculty who might be interested in the initiative
  • Updating the DITI(Digital Integration Teaching Initiative) website and GitHub repository to reflect current modules and exercises
  • Developing guidelines and best practices around the DITI for both internal and external purposes
June 2022 – August 2022

WWP Research Fellow

Northeastern University
  • Improving WWVT (Women Writers Vector Toolkit) which is a resource on the analysis of TEI-encoded XML documents using word embedding models
  • Troubleshooting R and Python codes
  • Developing user friendly website guide
June 2022 – August 2022

Computational Social Science Researcher

Turkish Foreign Policy Barometer on Twitter, funded by German Marshall Fund of the U.S.
  • Research Design: I took an active role in the design process
  • Data Retrieval: I was responsible for both determining the Twitter seed accounts and getting data from Twitter
  • Data Analysis: I used computational text analysis and statistical analysis techniques on our Twitter dataset
  • Reporting: I took an active role to prepare a report based on our findings
May 2020 – May 2021

Research Assistant

Center for Middle Eastern Strategic Studies(Think Tank)
  • Data Analysis:I was responsible for both qualitative coding of social media data and doing descriptive statistics on the dataset
  • Reporting: I prepared regular reports based on the findings of the projects and also I prepared summary notes for the workshops
  • I worked as a research assistant in projects funded by U.S. Homeland Security and Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs
September 2016 – June 2018

Education

Northeastern University

PhD
Politicial Science
2021-Continues

Kadir Has University

PhD Coursework
International Relations
2021

Middle East Technical University

Master of Science
Middle East Studies
2019

Bogazici University

Bachelor of Arts
Economics
2016

Skills

Programming Languages & Tools
Workflow
  • Machine Learning Alghorithms
  • Data Retrieval & Processing

Research Interests

I have a strong background in online extremism and radicalization. I employ machine learning, computational text, and network analysis methods to explore digital trace data.

Honors, Awards & Fellowships

  • NULab Travel Grant, Summer 2022
  • NULab Summer Fellowship, Summer 2022
  • Twitter Certified Developer Community Lead, 2020-2022
  • Turkish Academy of Sciences-GEBIP PhD Fellowship, 2019-2020
  • Scholarship for Political Science Research, ICPSR Summer Program in 2020
  • 4 th Place - COVID-19 DATATHON by TRIA AI - 2020
  • Travel and Accomodation Grant, Summer Institute in Computational Social Science-Helsinki in 2018

Workshops, Conferences, and Talks

  • Using the Twitter API for Academic Research, August 2022, Twitter, Boston
  • 8th International Conference on Computational Social Science, July 2022, University of Chicago, Chicago
  • 5th Politics and Computational Social Science (PaCSS) conference, June 2022, Harvard University, Cambridge
  • ECPR General Conference, August 2021, Online
  • 6th International Conference on Computational Social Science, July 2021, MIT, Online
  • 3rd Politics and Computational Social Science (PaCSS) conference, August 2020, Northeastern University, Online