SIM DAD
Who We Are
About
SIM DAD.
SIM DAD delivers novel, bespoke solutions to data analysis and design challenges. We work with organizations to understand their specific needs — then build the research programs, analytical pipelines, and production tools to meet them.
Our work spans the full stack: from study design and IRB-governed data collection through NLP pipelines, statistical modeling, and production software deployment. We bring research rigor to applied problems and engineering discipline to research challenges.
Our capabilities are grounded in a track record that includes a $1.59M NSF-funded research program, formal data-access agreements with Riot Games and VRChat, large-scale behavioral datasets, and open-source software tools in active deployment.
What We Do
Company Capabilities
- Mixed-methods design
- Survey research (N=2,448+)
- Experimental design
- Causal inference
- Structural topic modeling
- Meta-analysis
- NLP & sentiment analysis
- Time series analysis
- R / RStudio
- Python
- SQL (PostgreSQL, MySQL)
- Window functions & CTEs
- pandas · numpy
- scikit-learn
- NLTK / spaCy / HuggingFace
- R package development
- Git / GitHub
- Docker & Docker Compose
- Next.js & SvelteKit
- Prisma ORM
- REST API design
- ggplot2 & Shiny
- Tableau
- LLM / AI integration
- Research program direction
- Cross-institutional PM
- Large consortium management
- Grant writing & management
- IRB & data governance
- Open-source development
- Stakeholder reporting
Track Record
Work at Scale
Distributed Raspberry Pi + PostgreSQL pipeline logging 117,943 channels over one month. Source for dissertation and all subsequent Twitch publications.
1.43M VRChat tweets and 1.41M remote work tweets from 887,888 unique users — structured in PostgreSQL, analyzed via STM and NLP pipelines.
Formal data-access agreement with Riot Games to analyze proprietary League of Legends player data. Findings published in peer-reviewed journal.
Led project teams of 4–8 within a 30+ person cross-institutional consortium spanning MSU, SIUE, and 4 partner institutions. 8+ publications.
Large-scale behavioral surveys on virtual meeting platform adoption, Zoom fatigue, social interaction anxiety, and avatar use across multiple studies.
NLP/STM → large-scale survey → semi-structured interviews → controlled experiment → VR prototype user testing. Full mixed-methods pipeline.
Our Work
Projects
A planned native Windows desktop application designed to make professional-grade text analysis accessible without Python, R, or a command line. Concept targets dictionary-based scoring, ML classification, group statistical comparisons, and publication-quality visualizations in a minimal GUI — built for domain experts who need results, not toolchain overhead.
Visit Project Site → View on GitHub →A web application for equipment reservation and QR-based checkout currently in final pre-launch testing. Dual-database architecture (PostgreSQL + MySQL via Prisma ORM), Docker Compose orchestration, REST API, Microsoft Entra SSO, and Snipe-IT asset management integration.
View on GitHub →A desktop launcher for running Open WebUI locally via Docker + Ollama. Handles hardware detection, model selection, and safe configuration defaults — designed to make local LLM deployment accessible to non-technical users, with classroom-safe defaults for instructor-guided use.
View on GitHub →Our Team
Leadership
Mixed-methods researcher and data scientist with 10+ years of experience designing studies, analyzing large-scale behavioral datasets, and building the software to support both. NSF Co-PI on a $1.59M award with formal research partnerships at Riot Games and VRChat. Domain expertise in social VR/XR, virtual meetings, parasocial media, and human-computer interaction.
Formal data-access agreement to analyze 5M+ proprietary avatar gender choice records from League of Legends. Findings published in peer-reviewed journal.
Established formal platform collaboration for NSF-funded social VR research: 1.4M+ tweets, in-world behavioral data collection, and avatar observation methodology.
Co-founding organizer of a peer-reviewed annual academic conference on XR research, now in its third year (MXR 2026, University of Oregon Portland).
Selected Publications
- 2025 Leith, A.P., et al. Stress and coping in VRChat: A mixed-method case study. Computers in Human Behavior Reports, 20(100843).
- 2025 Ratan, R.A., …Leith, A.P., Bailenson, J.N. Time matters in VR: Outcomes decline after 45 minutes. Computers & Education, 14(3).
- 2025 Beyea, D., …Leith, A.P. Zoom fatigue in review: A meta-analytical examination. Computers in Human Behavior Reports, 17(100571).
- 2025 Lim, C., …Leith, A.P. Zoom fatigue, impression management, and virtual meeting adoption intent. PLOS One.
- 2022 Foxman, M., …Leith, A.P. Beyond genre: Classifying virtual reality experiences. IEEE Transactions on Games, 14(3).
- 2021 Leith, A.P. Parasocial cues: The ubiquity of parasocial relationships on Twitch. Communication Monographs, 88(1), 111–129.
- 2019 Ratan, R.A., …Leith, A.P. Women keep it real: Avatar gender choice in League of Legends. Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking, 22.
Full list: apleith.github.io
Janet brings a background in business and management alongside extensive professional experience as a paraprofessional. As COO, she serves as the company’s C-level project manager — overseeing daily operations, coordinating cross-functional workstreams, and ensuring project goals are met on time and to standard.