Contact Information

McGill University

Department of Sociology
peter.mcmahan@mcgill.ca

petermcmahan.com

Academic Appointments

Assistant Professor of Sociology, McGill University: 2018–
Postdoctoral Scholar, Stanford University, Departments of Computer Science, Education, and Linguistics: 2017–2018

Education

PhD Sociology, University of Chicago: 2017
MPP, Harris School of Public Policy, University of Chicago: 2007
BA in Mathematics, Reed College: 2003

Research Interests

Social networks, status, culture, computational methods, mathematical models, statistical methods

Publications

Grants and Funding

FRQSC Soutien à la recherche pour la relève professorale, Principal investigator ($56,562)
Uncovering boundaries and influence in scientific fields: 2023–2026
McGill SSHRC General Research Fund supplement to IDG, Principal investigator ($7,000): 2021–2022
SSHRC Insight Development Grant (IDG), Principal investigator ($62,139)
Uncovering social influence online: power, propaganda, and hierarchy from natural language: 2020–2024
NFRF Exploration Grant, Co-applicant ($250,000)
Holistic evaluation of the determinants of mobility to enhance social and work participation: Platform trial of the Electronic Mobility Monitoring and Intervention (EMMI) Portal: 2020–2022
SSHRC Partnership Grant, Co-applicant ($2.5 million)
Consortium on Analytics for Data-Driven Decision-Making (CAnD3): Developing Talent for Population Analytics in Aging Societies: 2019–2026
McGill University Start-up Grant ($13,000): 2018–2021

Academic Appointments and Honors

Benjamin Bloom Fellowship, University of Chicago, Division of Social Sciences: 2016–2017
Associate Editor, American Journal of Sociology: 2013–2014
Manuscript Board, American Journal of Sociology: 2012–2013
Academic Fellowship, University of Chicago, Division of Social Sciences: 2009–2014
Academic Fellowship, University of Chicago, Harris School of Public Policy Studies: 2005–2007

Workshops and Conferences

Canadian Sociological Association annual conference

Setting the Record Straight: The Dynamics of Public Critique and Rebuttal in Scientific Publication: 2023, Toronto, Ontario
Setting the Tone: How Talk Reveals Relational Structures of Power: 2019, Vancouver, British Colombia

American Sociological Association annual conference

Adolescent Status Hierarchies: 2015, Chicago, IL
Ambiguity and Knowledge Fragmentation: 2012, Denver, CO

Invited talks

Annual Reviews

Creative Destruction: The Structure and Consequences of Scientific Curation: 2021 board meeting

McGill School of Computer Science Colloquium

Discovering group status structures using conversational data: November 2019

Media Appearances

“Review Articles Cause ‘Dramatic Loss’ in Citations for Original Research.” (Clare Watson) Nature Index (blog), May 11, 2021. https://www.natureindex.com/news-blog/review-articles-cause-dramatic-loss-in-citations-for-original-research.
“Literature Reviews ‘Poach Attention’ from Original Research.” (Jack Grove) Times Higher Education (THE) (blog), May 12, 2021. https://www.timeshighereducation.com/news/literature-reviews-poach-attention-original-research.
“Academic Review Articles Lead to Fewer Citations for Underlying Research.” (Jack Grove) The Academic Times (blog), March 28, 2021. https://academictimes.com/academic-review-articles-lead-to-fewer-citations-for-underlying-research.
“Uncertainty in Science Communication: Include It or Lose It?” (Alice Fleerackers) ScienceBorealis.ca Blog. May 4, 2020. https://blog.scienceborealis.ca/uncertainty-in-science-communication-include-it-or-lose-it/.

Teaching

†

indicates course substantially revised by P. McMahan

‡

indicates new course developed by P. McMahan

Sociology of Science (McGill University, SOCI 325) ‡

Fall 2024
Fall 2023
Fall 2022
Fall 2021
Winter 2021
Winter 2020

Quantitative Methods 2 (McGill University, SOCI 620) †

Winter 2023
Winter 2022
Winter 2021
Winter 2020

Sociological Perspectives (McGill University, SOCI 210) †

Winter 2024
Winter 2023
Winter 2022
Fall 2020
Fall 2019
Fall 2018

Academic service

Service to the McGill Department of Sociology

Member, Graduate Admissions Committee, 2020–2021, 2024–2025
Member, Ad Hoc Hiring Decision-making Committee, 2024–2025
Member, Social Committee, 2024–2025
Member, Equity Committee, 2023–2024
Organizer, Graduate Professional Development Seminar, 2021–present
Organizer, Department Research Series, 2022–present
Member, Comprehensive Exam Committee (Social Stratification), 2018–present
Chair, Comprehensive Exam Committee (Sociology of Knowledge), 2018–present
Chair, Quantitative Curriculum Committee, 2023–present
Pre-tenure representative, Chair Selection Committee, 2023
Member, Search Committee (Demography), 2023
Member, Search Committee (Open), 2022
Member, Graduate Committee, 2019–2020
Departmental representative to Faculty of Arts Meetings, 2018–2021
Member, Visiting Speaker Series Committee, 2018–2019

Service to the Faculty of Arts and McGill University

Member, Fellowships Evaluation Committee for the 2023 SSHRC Canada Graduate Scholarships - Doctoral (CGS D) competition, 2022–present
Member, Internal Social Science and Humanities Development Grants committee, 2022-present
Co-organizer, Summer ‘prefresher’ courses in mathematics and R 2019–present
Pro-dean, PhD oral defense (Department of Civil Engineering and Applied Mechanics), 2021
Guest lecturer, Research Methods: Theory and Practice (EDEM 690), Faculty of Education, 2020
Co-organizer, Stan for the people (graduate workshop in advanced statistical computation), 2019

Service to the Profession

Journal article reviewer:
- American Journal of Sociology • American Sociological Review • Social Forces • Network Science • Social Networks • Plos One • Poetics
Conferences:
- Sunbelt Conference (INSNA), reviewer and session chair: “Online networks: Identity, boundaries, and culture”, 2022
- ICA Regional Conference 2022 (Computational Communication Research), member of programming committee and reviewer, 2022
- International Conference on Computational Social Science, reviewer, 2018
- Social Informatics, reviewer, 2017
External grant/fellowship reviewer:
- European Research Council (ERC) Frontier Research Grants, 2023–present
- National Killam Program fellowship, 2023–present
- New Frontiers in Research Fund - Exploration grant, 2020

Professional memberships

American Sociological Association
Canadian Sociological Association
McGill Centre on Population Dynamics
Consortium on Analytics for Data-Driven Decision-Making

Languages

English (native speaker)
French (CEFR certified level B2)
Spanish (intermediate)

Contact Information

Academic Appointments

Education

Research Interests

Publications

Grants and Funding

Academic Appointments and Honors

Workshops and Conferences

Sunbelt Conference (International Network for Social Network Analysis)

Canadian Sociological Association annual conference

American Sociological Association annual conference

Invited talks

Annual Reviews

Summer Institute in Computational Social Science

McGill School of Computer Science Colloquium

McGill Centre on Popuulation Dynamics: Social statistics & Population Dynamics Seminar series

Media Appearances

Teaching

Social Networks (McGill University, SOCI 624) ‡

Networks and Social Structures (McGill University, SOCI 424) ‡

Sociology of Science (McGill University, SOCI 325) ‡

Quantitative Methods 2 (McGill University, SOCI 620) †

Sociological Perspectives (McGill University, SOCI 210) †

Computing for Social Sciences and Humanities (University of Chicago) ‡

Academic service

Service to the McGill Department of Sociology

Service to the Faculty of Arts and McGill University

Service to the Profession

Professional memberships

Languages