Sierra Nelson, M.S.
Research Associate I and Sociology Doctoral Candidate

Sierra Nelson is a Research Associate at the Mississippi State University Social Science Research Center and MSU's High Performance Computing Center (HPC2). She is also a criminology doctoral candidate in the Department of Sociology. Her current projects and publications utilize open source intelligence and open source data to examine online extremism, online radicalization, and the spread of online propaganda. She is also engaged in research examining social media sentiments surrounding highly publicized events—including those pertaining to mass violence. Sierra's other research interests include school safety research, school bullying, spatial variations in suicide, and policy analysis. Sierra strives to create scalable research that can result in both impactful and sustainable social change.

Sierra Nelson received a B.S. in Social Justice and Criminology from Delta State University and an M.S. in Sociology from Mississippi State University. She expects to complete her Ph.D. in Sociology at Mississippi State University by the Spring of 2024.