Eric Gladstone
Behavioral and computational scientist
I study how information is distributed, interpreted, and transformed through networks, and how communication structure shapes judgment, coordination, and collective behavior across human, organizational, and AI systems.
My work combines experiments, network analysis, measurement, simulation, statistical inference, and computational systems. I build software and research environments when existing tools cannot adequately expose the processes I want to study. I also investigate how people interact with technology, including the systems I develop, and how interfaces shape what users can understand, accomplish, and conclude.
Current research
I have four current lines of research, with manuscripts under review or in press. I am an Academic Affiliate in the Department of Sociology at the University of South Carolina.
Machine-agent networks
How communication structure, what agents are permitted to share, and the composition of models across positions shape collective reasoning in networks of machine agents.
Information transformation and provenance
How information changes as it moves through a communication system, and what can be inferred about a hidden production process from the traces that remain observable.
Simulation and mechanism
Models that distinguish mechanisms capable of producing similar visible outcomes, including latent diffusion before adoption and correction during adaptive search.
Measurement of cultural structure
Methods for distinguishing recurrent structure across a transformation lineage from surface resemblance, and for validating a candidate signature on held-out material.
Systems
Some research questions require building the environment in which the process can be observed.
I develop controlled multi-agent environments, simulations, communication-trace inference systems, analytical pipelines, and research software. These systems let me manipulate communication structure, information access, routing, and model capabilities, or investigate what can be inferred when the underlying process is only partially observable.
I use AI extensively in software development, automation, and testing, including building research infrastructure that would otherwise require substantially more time and technical support.
Talks
My presentations examine social networks, collective behavior, experimental research, and computational systems. They include research talks, among them a presentation on AI credibility in networked systems for the Center for Computing Research at Sandia National Laboratories, and technical walkthroughs of research designs, analytical methods, and software implementations.
The walkthroughs provide a closer look at how I conduct research, from formulating a problem to building and evaluating the instruments used to investigate it, including the assumptions and checks needed to evaluate their results.
Human–Technology Interaction
I study how people interact with technology, what they understand from it, and how interfaces and systems shape their decisions and actions.
My approach combines behavioral research with computational methods. I draw on experience conducting experiments, qualitative and quantitative studies, and research with participants. I also build working interfaces, use AI agents to rehearse tasks, simulate interactions, and systematically test software behavior.
These methods help identify problems, examine assumptions, and design more informative studies with people. The choice depends on the question and the evidence needed to answer it.
Professional Experience
My career spans academic research, industry, and independent systems development. I was an Assistant Professor of Management and Organizations at the University of Kentucky's LINKS Center for Social Network Analysis and a Robert K. Merton Visiting Research Fellow at the Institute for Analytical Sociology in Stockholm. I subsequently worked as a senior behavioral scientist at Meta and Roku and led behavioral science at Iron Light Public Affairs.
Across these roles, I have conducted experiments, developed behavioral measures, studied social networks and organizations, and built computational systems for research and analysis. I hold a PhD in Organizational Behavior from Cornell University.