Boasting an exemplary history of fostering research and connection through deliberative storytelling and interdisciplinary work, Abigail Rolbiecki was recently named director of Colorado State University’s Institute for Research in the Social Sciences.
IRISS was founded in 2017 by Emerita Professor of Sociology Jeni Cross. The center seeks to connect individuals across the university, as Associate Director of Business Operations Nicole Franklin explained.
“Its mission is to empower research teams to address complex societal challenges through applied social science,” Franklin said. “IRISS provides critical support for social science projects, connects researchers from diverse disciplines and offers training in research methods.”
Following Cross’ retirement, IRISS was previously led by Associate Dean for Research and Graduate Programs Elissa Braunstein and Associate Professor Matthew Hitt, until Rolbiecki assumed her current position in February.
Holding a master’s and doctorate in social work, as well as a master’s in public health, Rolbiecki began her academic career at the University of Missouri School of Medicine. There she served as a faculty member in both MU’s Department of Family and Community Medicine and Translational Biosciences Doctoral Program.
In 2023, she moved to the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, where her transdisciplinary work drew on several aspects of her diverse background, all centering on the human experience.
“I have developed a couple different interventions that are rooted in narrative approaches and storytelling, and I’ve tested them as interventions designed to help family caregivers of individuals with serious illness make sense of — or find meaning in — their caregiving realities, also as a way to connect with others over a shared identity,” Rolbiecki said.
Focused on family system orientation, her research has spanned caregivers treating relatives with a variety of conditions, from dementia to cancer. The inspiration behind Rolbiecki’s research also stems from first-hand experience.
“My heart’s work is actually in that caregiving world, just because (of) my own lived experience as a sibling caregiver to my brother who had a serious, complex neurological condition,” Rolbiecki said.
While continually striving to better her research, Rolbiecki said she was drawn to CSU for its community and outreach-centered mission, a purpose she found reflective of her own alma mater, both joined under the land-grant mission.
“Coming to CSU and returning to that land-grant mission feels very energizing,” Rolbiecki said. “And I tell people all the time that it feels like I am stepping back into something that feels very familiar, very mission aligned.”
Beyond her record of connecting research across disciplinary boundaries, Rolbiecki also boasts a strong history of securing large-scale research grants and funding.
“Dr. Rolbiecki has secured over $8 million in funded research and has collaborated with top R1 institutions, demonstrating her ability to drive impactful research,” Franklin said.
Having officially assumed her role Feb. 2, Rolbiecki said she hopes to strengthen the two service areas the institute is currently serving: ARES, which encapsulates research and evaluation, as well as the team science arm, including workshops and coaching.
Beyond IRISS’s existing roles, she also said she hopes to enhance the institute’s presence on the national research stage.
“One of the things that I would like to bring to IRISS is really creating more capacity and infrastructure to support faculty in their Big-R Research pipeline,” Rolbiecki said. “So research that’s really designed to test hypotheses, make significant advancements in sort of a scientific field, but with the lens of supporting research capacity in the area of social science.”
She said she also hopes to create a faculty affiliate network to connect scientists across CSU in a matchmaking fashion, introducing principal investigators from departments that may not have otherwise interacted.
“There’s really a unique opportunity for IRISS to serve as this hub for people who might have more of a topical expertise but need to be connected with individuals who have sort of a methodological expertise,” Rolbiecki said.
This drive to improve IRISS’ outreach and connective ability stood out as a prime quality of Rolbiecki’s during the hiring process, as Dean of the College of Liberal Arts Kjerstin Thorson wrote in a statement.
“Dr. Rolbiecki has a vision for growing our capacity-building programs — training researchers across disciplines in evaluation methods, team science and advanced social science approaches,” Thorson said. “I expect that as a connector and storyteller, Dr. Rolbiecki will build powerful, new partnerships connecting our faculty with state and federal agencies, community organizations and industry partners.”
Reflective of Rolbiecki’s own ability to connect people with storytelling, IRISS holds the possibility to serve as a similarly connective hub for researchers at CSU, now at a greater level than ever before.
“It’s like lifting while you rise,” Rolbiecki said. “It’s this understanding that we all have something that we can bring to the table, but we cannot do it siloed or alone, and we need other expertise and other disciplines to help us collectively work together to make meaningful and sustainable change.”
Reach Katie Fisher at science@collegian.com or on social media @RMCollegian.