Woodruff Fellow Matt Graci
This is the third post in a series of interviews conducted by the Woodruff Library with the 2017-2018 Woodruff Library and Emory Center for Digital Scholarship (ECDS) Fellows. Funded by the Laney Graduate School, the Woodruff Library and Emory Center for Digital Scholarship (ECDS) awards fellowships to advanced graduate students expecting to complete their dissertations by the end of the fellowship period. Fellows are placed within the Woodruff Library and ECDS to work in an area related to their subject specialization or interest, culminating in a formal presentation in the Spring.
1. Tell us a little bit about yourself. Where are you from? What’s your favorite book? What’s your favorite thing about Emory/Atlanta?
I am from Buffalo, N.Y. I came to Atlanta right after after completing a M.Ed. in Human Development Counseling at Vanderbilt University, and a B.A. in Psychology and Philosophy at University of Dayton before that. My favorite thing about Atlanta is the live music scene. At Emory, I am a PhD Candidate in the Department of Psychology.
2. What are you researching for your dissertation?
My research focuses on autobiographical memory with an emphasis on narrative, emotion regulation, and stress and coping. My dissertation utilizes a range of research methods (e.g. qualitatively derived manual coding schemes, as well as machine learning and natural language processing tools) to examine how people adaptively story their personal experiences over time.
3. What interested you about the Woodruff Library Fellowship?
Story-telling is an instrumental part of daily life and I am keen on playing a more dynamic role applying my studies in this everyday action. I sought out the fellowship in order to be a part of an interdisciplinary team that focuses on sharing a wide range of stories and messages.
4. What will you be working on this year for your Woodruff Library Fellowship?
In my position as the ECDS Fellow in Digital Humanities, I am acting as an associate editor for Atlanta Studies helping manage all elements of digital publication, as well as drawing on my research methods as a consulting analyst at ECDS, such as performing text analysis for other ECDS projects and Google Analytics for the Atlanta Studies digital publication.