His current research focus is on Science of Science, a quest to turn the scientific methods and curiosities upon itself, hoping to use and develop tools from complexity sciences and artificial intelligence to broadly explore the opportunities and promises offered by the recent data explosion in science. At Northwestern, Dashun is the founding director of the Center for Science of Science & Innovation. His work has been applied to understand and predict social interactions, human mobility, creativity and scientific impact. His research has been published in general audience journals such as Nature, Science, and PNAS as well as top specialized venues in computer science and physics, and has been featured in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Harvard Business Review, Bloomberg, The Atlantic, Forbes, The Economist, The Guardian, The Washington Post, among other major global media outlets.