The CIS Seminar Series continued on Monday, March 3, 2025, with an engaging presentation by Professor Sun-Ki Chai, a sociologist at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa whose interdisciplinary research bridges sociology, political science, economics and computational modeling.
Dr. Chai’s work focuses on advancing social science theories related to culture and behavior while refining methods to seamlessly integrate these theories into software frameworks with greater accuracy and reliability. Since his 2001 book, “Choosing an Identity,” he has developed the coherence model, the first general predictive model of individual and collective cultural change, as well as formalized general cultural frameworks for representing culture, both of which can be incorporated into predictive behavioral models. He is co editor of the books Culture and Social Theory (Transaction Publishers, 1998) and Advances in Social Computing (Springer, 2010), and has published articles in the disciplines of sociology, political science, and economics, as well as in computer science.
With an academic background in Mathematical Sciences, Computer Science, and Political Science (all from Stanford University), Dr. Chai has secured nearly $3 million in interdisciplinary research grants and holds a U.S. patent (#7499965) for technology that uses social network models to identify virtual communities.
As always, the seminar concluded with a First Monday social hour at Ba-Le/Manoa Gardens. A huge mahalo to Dr. Chai for sharing his expertise!
Sun-Ki Chai Bio:
I’ve always been interested in the study of society, and sociology was my first major as an undergraduate. However, I also had an interest in computer programming, which was hard to square with my interest in sociology, so I eventually got a Master’s Degree in computer science. After working for a while (including lecturing in the UHM EE department) and a detour in journalism, I eventually decided to return to the social sciences, getting my PhD in political science. I eventually turned full circle and have returned to the beginning as a professor of sociology. Nowadays, the fields of sociology and computer science are far less distant than they used to be, and much of my work revolves around the intersection of the two fields.
My professional life has been devoted to innovation in social science theories of culture and behavior, as well as the development of more valid and reliable techniques for integrating such theories into software architectures. My main empirical interests are identity-based conflict and violence, as well as the effect of cultural interactions on national economic and political development, with an area focus on Asia-Pacific dynamics. My computer science background is in artificial intelligence with a specialization in information search and classification.