Madeline Burdine joined the SSRC in January 2024 as a Research Associate. Burdine received her bachelor’s degree in communication from Mississippi State University. She later earned a master’s degree in integrated marketing communication (2022) and a master’s degree in sociology (2024) from the University of Mississippi. As a graduate student at the University of Mississippi, Burdine put her passion for the social sciences to work in a number of ways. She served for one year as a graduate assistant for the Sarah Isom Center for Women and Gender Studies before being selected to serve as a graduate research assistant on a research project funded by NSF. Over the course of the project, Burdine was part of interviewing over 100 White southerners to explore how they feel about their place within the racial hierarchy today. Burdine’s thesis explored how heterosexuals who are considered supportive of the LGBTQ+ community navigate and maintain relationships with their LGBTQ+ friends and family within the conservative state of Mississippi. Burdine has also conducted interviews for the Queer Mississippi Oral History Project. As a research associate at the SSRC, Burdine has worked on projects within the following labs: Mississippi Tobacco Data, the Community Impacts Lab, the Evaluation and Research Group, and the Data Science for Social Sciences (DS3) Laboratory. Her diverse skillset allows her work to range from data collection to web and graphic design expertise in the formulation of reports and communication. Burdine is currently completing coursework toward a Ph.D. in Sociology from Mississippi State University.
https://orcid.org/0009-0003-0829-6336
Contribution to Project: As an undergraduate student in communication, Madeline Burdine assisted Dr. Terri Hernandez in the initial development of the DS3 website. After completing graduate degrees at another institution, Burdine returned to Mississippi State University to begin her research career and had a full-circle moment to once again join forces with Dr. Hernandez in the expansion of DS3’s website.