CONNECT 2021

That’s why our shared COVID-19 datasets on Harvard Dataverse have been accessed​and downloaded over 500,000 times frommore than 150 countries since February ​2020.” Juwon Hwang joins the School of Media and Strategic Communications after her Ph.D. work at the University of Wisconsin. Her focus is investigating health behaviors related to infectious diseases, especially vaccinations for COVID-19, seasonal influenza, swine flu/H1N1 and children. She is particularly interested in public perception of the COVID-19 vaccine and howmessaging influences attitudes about it. “What CAS has done by making these hires is to put people together in one place to work together to contribute to society,” Juwon said. “That is unique, ambitious and compelling. It is an honor to be part of this.” She has previously studied the swine flu pandemic, which ran from June 2009 to August 2010, with the purpose of understanding what inspired people to get vaccinated and why some people were hesitant. “I look at the psychological perceptions of people and whether they focus on side effects or efficacy of the vaccine,” Juwon said. “After COVID- 19 hit, of course that drewmy attention. I wanted to knowwhy people were so horrified and scared of the COVID vaccine. Everything was changing so quickly on social media. I found that a lot of people were so swayed by conspiracy theories and unverified information, or misinformation. I’m also looking at why some people change their minds and get the shot after previously being hesitant.” Rebecca Kaplan has moved to OSU’s Department of History from the Science History Institute in Philadelphia. She specializes in the history of animal health, public health and One Health. Her ongoing project on brucellosis in the U.S. extends beyond the history of medicine, drawing together concepts from environmental history, history of science and technology, social movements, agriculture, American politics and public policy, and the fields of animal studies, bacteriology and epidemiology. She is passionate about producing work that serves the general public, and the COVID-19 pandemic provides a perfect opportunity to do that. “Nobody wants their work to be important because something horrible happened,” Kaplan said. “It would have been great to go my entire life without a global pandemic. But since it did happen, let’s take advantage of the moment and do the most good we can with our work right now. For example, we know that people aren’t good at understanding risk. This is our moment to educate and use research to work on that. We need to strike while the iron is hot and make sure that we don’t just keep our discoveries locked up in academic spheres.” She calls her new position at OSU “a dream job” because of the effort to put together collaborators at a university that has history as well as comprehensive science fields — including both a veterinary school and a medical school. “At a lot of schools, I’d be slotted in the history department, and they wouldn’t even want me to talk to the sciences,” Kaplan said. “People tend to get siloed at universities. But when you Juwon Hwang Rebecca Kaplan “What CAS has done by making these hires is to put people together in one place to work together to contribute to society.” JUWON HWANG 4 CONNECT 202 1