Tom McEnaney is an Associate Professor of Comparative Literature and Spanish & Portuguese at the University of California, Berkeley, and Director of the Berkeley Center for New Media (BCNM). He holds a joint appointment in the Department of Spanish & Portuguese and serves on the Executive Board of UC Cuba. He is affiliated with the Center for Cultural Analytics, the Program in Critical Theory, the Center for Science, Technology, Medicine and Society, and the Data Science Lab (D-Lab). His research focuses on the history of media and technology, Argentine, Cuban, and U.S. literature, sound studies, linguistic anthropology, computational humanities, and new media studies. His book Acoustic Properties: Radio, Narrative, and the New Neighborhood of the Americas (2017) explores the interplay of radio and narrative in Argentina, Cuba, and the U.S., analyzing populism, state socialism, and the reimagining of the vox populi through listening practices. McEnaney’s work has appeared in journals such as diacritics , PMLA , and Representations , and media outlets like The New York Times and Public Books . He is a Mellon New Directions Fellow (2020–2023) in cultural analytics and leads a project on tape technology’s impact on testimonial writing, rock nacional, electronic music, and audiobooks in the Americas. Previously an Assistant Professor at Cornell University, he founded the Latin American Journals Project, an online archive of digitized literary journals from Latin America and the Hispanophone Caribbean. His current affiliations emphasize interdisciplinary collaboration and expanding access to cultural archives globally.
Massachusetts Institute of TechnologyUnited States
Alexandre Jacquillat is the Maurice F. Strong Career Development Associate Professor and Associate Professor of Operations Research and Statistics at MIT Sloan School of Management. His research focuses on data-driven decision-making with applications in air traffic management, urban mobility, and decarbonization. He holds a PhD in Engineering and MS degrees from MIT and École Polytechnique. Education PhD in Engineering, MIT MS in Technology and Policy, MIT MS in Applied Mathematics, École Polytechnique Research Interests His work develops scalable optimization models for efficient, equitable, and sustainable operations. Key areas include stochastic optimization, large-scale systems design, and machine learning applications in transportation and public policy. Recent projects explore vertiport planning for urban aerial mobility and prescriptive analytics for pandemic response. Awards Harold W. Kuhn Award (2024) INFORMS Harvey Greenberg Research Award (2023) MIT Jamieson Prize for Excellence in Teaching (2023) Multiple INFORMS Best Paper Awards (2015-2023) Named Leading Academic Data Leader by Chief Data Officer Magazine (2021-2022) Teaching & Grants Teaches courses in optimization (15.093, 15.083) and analytics (15.072). His grants support work in robotic warehousing, air traffic scheduling, and disaster response logistics. Advises on transportation analytics for industry and government. Labs/Teams Leads MIT Sloan's operations research group, collaborating with industry partners like McKinsey & Co. and Booz Allen Hamilton on transportation analytics and optimization projects.
Dr. Olle Järv is an Academy Research Fellow at the University of Helsinki's Department of Geosciences and Geography. As Docent in Human Geography and holder of a joint PhD from University of Tartu and Ghent University, his research focuses on leveraging big data sources like mobile phone records and social media for analyzing human mobility patterns across European cross-border regions. Key research areas: Spatial segregation, urban diversity, transnationalism, and pandemic-induced mobility changes Current projects: BORDERSPACE (2020-2025) – Mapping transnational spaces through mobility data MOBI-TWIN (2023-2026) – Regional mobility patterns in twin transitions WinWin4WorkLife (2024-2027) – Sustainable cross-border remote work His methodological innovations include developing tools for analyzing social media data and mobile phone records to study urban dynamics. Recent recognitions include the 2024 Research Council of Finland Award and 2021 Best Paper Award from Journal of Location Based Services.
Massachusetts Institute of TechnologyUnited States
Christopher J. Palmer is an Associate Professor of Finance at the MIT Sloan School of Management, specializing in financial decision-making, credit markets, and policy interventions. His research focuses on how individuals and institutions respond to economic upheavals in areas like bankruptcy, retirement savings, and real estate. He holds a PhD in Economics from MIT and a BA in Economics and Mathematics from Brigham Young University. Palmer’s work has been published in top journals such as the American Economic Review , Journal of Finance , and Review of Financial Studies . He explores topics including racial disparities in bankruptcy outcomes, consumer payment behavior, and the effects of quantitative easing. His research is supported by affiliations with the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) and the Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL). Key honors include the 2022 Jamieson Prize and the 2019 Society for Financial Studies Best Paper Award. Palmer has contributed to public debates on policy issues like rent control and retirement savings through media outlets such as The New York Times , Bloomberg , and Vox .
Professor Lisa Strohschein holds dual roles as a Professor in the Sociology Department and Director of Undergraduate Programs at the University of Alberta's Faculty of Arts. Her research focuses on family dynamics and health inequalities, employing longitudinal methodologies to analyze large datasets. She teaches courses on health sociology, mental illness, and socialization, emphasizing sociological perspectives on health distribution and care systems. Her research interests include the interplay between socioeconomic factors and mental health, gender disparities in marital outcomes, and generational shifts in parenting practices. She has published extensively on topics like teen pregnancy correlates, poverty dynamics, and the mental health implications of family structures. Strohschein has received the 2019-20 Killam Annual Professorship and serves as Editor-in-Chief of Canadian Studies in Population, a peer-reviewed journal focusing on demographic research. She also contributes to policy through roles like membership in Statistics Canada's Demographic Statistics Advisory Committee and past presidency of the Canadian Population Society. Her scholarly work bridges theoretical frameworks (life course, stress process theory) with methodological rigor, often using growth curve models and competing risks analysis. Current research trends emphasize cross-national comparisons and applied policy relevance, particularly in understanding how family transitions impact health across the life course.
Adam Soliman is an Assistant Professor in the John E. Walker Department of Economics at Clemson University's College of Business. His research focuses on the intersection of economics, crime, and public policy, with particular expertise in drug policy, policing behavior, and enforcement strategies. Dr. Soliman's research interests center on understanding the economic incentives behind criminal behavior and law enforcement responses. His work examines how changes in punishment severity affect police behavior, with a particular focus on drug policy reforms. He investigates whether police treat enforcement effort and punishment severity as complements or substitutes, challenging conventional 'War on Drugs' approaches. His research combines economic theory with empirical analysis of geocoded crime data to provide evidence-based insights into criminal justice policy. His publication record demonstrates significant contributions to understanding drug markets, opioid epidemics, and policing strategies. His work shows that weakening drug sale penalties leads to decreased drug arrests without displacement to non-drug offenses, suggesting police treat enforcement and punishment as complements. His research indicates that certain enforcement reductions may not incur large public safety costs, challenging traditional deterrence models. As an active researcher in criminology and public policy, Dr. Soliman collaborates with scholars from various institutions including University of Colorado, University of Pittsburgh, and Duke University. His work appears in working paper series such as the Economic Research Initiatives at Duke (ERID) and has been cited in related fields including public economics, criminology, and urban studies.
Siva Balakrishnan is an Associate Professor at Carnegie Mellon University with a joint appointment in the Department of Statistics and Data Science and the Machine Learning Department . He holds an affiliation with the Dietrich College of Humanities and Social Sciences. Previously, he was a postdoctoral researcher at UC Berkeley's Department of Statistics, advised by Martin Wainwright and Bin Yu, and earned his Ph.D. in Computer Science from CMU's Language Technologies Institute under Jaime Carbonell. His research focuses on statistical machine learning, causal inference, and high-dimensional statistics, with notable contributions to domain adaptation, optimal transport, and robust statistics. Education: Ph.D. in Computer Science, Carnegie Mellon University (Language Technologies Institute) Postdoctoral Researcher, University of California, Berkeley (Department of Statistics) Research Interests: His work bridges theoretical foundations and algorithmic development, emphasizing robust statistical methods and their applications in causal inference, public policy, and machine learning. Key areas include nonparametric methods, optimization, and high-dimensional data analysis. He has pioneered techniques in domain adaptation, such as the RLSbench framework for relaxed label shift scenarios. Awards & Grants: Amazon Research Award (2021) Google Research Scholar Award (2021) NVIDIA Pioneer Award (2018) IMS Lawrence D. Brown Student Award (2020, 2022) National Science Foundation Grants (CCF-1763734, DMS-1713003, etc.) Professional Activities: He serves as an Associate Editor for JASA and on the editorial boards of Foundations and Trends in Statistics . His work has been featured in top venues like NeurIPS, ICML, and the Annals of Statistics. He currently holds a sabbatical at UC Berkeley's Department of Statistics (Spring 2025). Labs & Collaborations: He actively participates in the Statistics and Machine Learning Reading Group and the Causal Inference Working Group , fostering interdisciplinary research in CMU's vibrant academic community.
Maren Toft is a Professor in the Department of Sociology and Human Geography at the University of Oslo's Faculty of Social Sciences. Her academic career has progressed from Research Assistant (2013-2014) to PhD Candidate (2014-2018), Postdoctoral Fellow (2018-2022), Associate Professor (2022), and now Professor. Her research focuses on: Class theory and theory of elites Social mobility and class structuration Segregation and urban inequality Social capital and networks of power Advanced quantitative methods including social sequence analysis and correspondence analysis Toft's publication record shows a consistent focus on elite formation, wealth accumulation, and class reproduction. Her work frequently employs longitudinal approaches to examine how social origins influence life trajectories, particularly among the upper classes. She has made significant contributions to understanding how class structures persist in Scandinavian welfare states, challenging assumptions about equality in these societies. Her major scientific awards include: His Majesty the King's Gold Medal for her 2018 PhD dissertation 'Biographies of privilege' Norwegian sociological association's award for best international publication in 2020/2021 Norwegian sociological association's award for best international publication in 2017 Kunnskap Oslo's award for best Oslo-related Research in 2015 Norwegian sociological association's award for research dissemination in 2018 Toft actively supervises PhD students including Iselin Hewitt (studying urban planning and gentrification), Marte Lund Saga (examining business-politics networks), and Stian Uvaag (researching sibling similarities in mobility). She serves on the board of both the Department of Sociology and Human Geography and the Norwegian Sociological Association. She is involved in several major research projects including HISTCLASS, The Oslo Register Data Classification (ORDC), The Salmon Elite (SALELITE), and Weaving the fabric of Elite Bonds (WEB), which collectively examine various dimensions of elite formation, power structures, and social inequality in Norway and internationally.
Dr. Jonathan Bright is a Senior Research Fellow and Associate Professor at the Oxford Internet Institute, University of Oxford , specializing in computational approaches to the social and political sciences. His research explores how digital technologies reshape political participation and how new data sources enhance governmental decision-making. Research Interests: Focused on social media, political behavior, computational social science, and big data , Bright’s work addresses digital governance, algorithmic bureaucracy, and the dynamics of political fragmentation online. His empirical studies span open government data usage, crowdsourced geographical information, and the impact of neighborhood effects on data completeness. Scientific Contributions: Leading studies on algorithmic governance in UK local authorities (2020) Investigating geodemographic biases in crowdsourced platforms like OpenStreetMap (2018) Mapping political fragmentation in social media ecosystems (2018) Grants & Collaborations: Funded by UK taxpayers, ESRC, and Google, his work intersects with projects on vaccine misinformation, hate speech monitoring, and digital economies. Formerly held positions as Research Fellow and Research Associate at OII from 2013 to present.
Jino Distasio is a Professor and Acting Dean of Science at The University of Winnipeg, Department of Geography. He teaches Urban Geography, Cultural Geography, and Social Geography, with courses like GEOG-3413 Urban Revitalization and GEOG-3430 Housing and Neighbourhood Planning . His research focuses on housing and neighborhood development, city planning, urban revitalization, homelessness, mental health, and urban transportation. Teaching Areas : Urban Geography, Cultural Geography, Social Geography Key Collaborations : Institute of Urban Studies (U. of Winnipeg), Housing First initiatives, interdisciplinary teams in public health and social policy His recent publications highlight Housing First interventions, urban policy impacts on homelessness, and social determinants of health. Scientific awards and honors were not explicitly mentioned in the provided text.
Stephen Billings is an Associate Professor of Finance at the Leeds School of Business, University of Colorado Boulder, where he holds the Global Real Estate Capital Markets Chair position. He serves as the faculty director of the MS in Real Estate program and research director for the CU Real Estate Center. His work spans multiple research centers including the Center for Research on Consumer Financial Decision Making and the Michael A. Klump Center for Real Estate. Billings received his PhD in Economics from the University of Colorado, a MS in urban planning from the University of North Carolina, and a BS in economics from Georgetown University. Prior to joining CU Boulder in 2016, he was faculty at the University of North Carolina Charlotte with appointments in both economics and public policy, where he also served as faculty director for the real estate center. His research focuses on the intersection of housing, schools, neighborhoods and crime, addressing critical policy issues including the impact of public investment in light-rail transit on neighborhoods, school segregation's influence on academic achievement and crime, neighborhood gentrification causes, lead-based paint in low-income housing, and the effects of sea level rise and natural disasters on neighborhood sorting and household finances. Billings employs sophisticated analysis of large micro-datasets with studies based on data and policies in Charlotte, NC and Denver, CO. His work connects urban economics with public policy, demonstrating how neighborhood environments shape individual outcomes across multiple dimensions. Billings' recent publication record demonstrates a consistent focus on neighborhood effects, school choice impacts, crime economics, and housing market dynamics. His work frequently examines the intersection of race, housing, and economic outcomes, with particular attention to policy implications. He has developed innovative methodological approaches to studying residential amenities and neighborhood spillovers, with increasing attention to climate change impacts on housing markets. His research appears in top journals including The Quarterly Journal of Economics, American Economic Review: Insights, and Journal of Urban Economics. As an educator, Billings teaches undergraduate and masters classes in real estate finance and economics, as well as doctoral and masters level courses on cost-benefit analysis and statistical methods. He has extensive consulting experience conducting economic impact studies, including assessments of North Carolina's public higher education system, affordable housing needs in Colorado communities, and the economic effects of marijuana legalization on property markets. His practical policy work complements his academic research, creating a bridge between theoretical insights and real-world applications. Billings leads significant research initiatives through the CU Real Estate Center, where he directs studies examining the impact of business improvement districts and other urban development policies. His work bridges academic research with practical policy applications, making substantial contributions to our understanding of how housing, education, and neighborhood environments shape individual outcomes and community development. His December 2023 memo on the HUD Officer Next Door Program exemplifies his engagement with current housing policy issues.
Wei Xiong is the Hugh Leander and Mary Trumbull Adams Professor in Finance and Professor of Economics at Princeton University, affiliated with the Department of Economics and Bendheim Center for Finance. His research centers on behavioral finance and capital market imperfections with a focus on China's financial system and commodity markets. His educational background includes: Ph.D. in Finance from Duke University (2001) B.S. in Physics from University of Science and Technology of China (1993) Research Interests: Professor Xiong's work fundamentally explores behavioral finance and capital market imperfections , pioneering studies on speculative bubbles , heterogeneous beliefs in asset pricing , and financing frictions . His recent scholarship critically examines the financialization of commodity markets , belief distortions during financial crises , and the unique institutional dynamics of China's hybrid economy , where state and market forces interact. Publication Trends: Xiong's 48 publications in top-tier journals reveal an evolving trajectory from classical behavioral finance (2001-2013) toward contemporary China-focused systemic analysis (2017-2025). Recent works integrate cryptocurrency economics, real estate risk management, and policy design in emerging markets, demonstrating methodological rigor through structural modeling and empirical analysis of large-scale financial datasets. Scientific Awards: 2012 Smith Breeden Award (first prize) for the best non-corporate finance paper published in Journal of Finance 2013 NASDAQ OMX Award for the best asset pricing paper presented in Western Finance Association Meetings Professional Activities: As NBER research associate and former Management Science finance editor (2009-2011), Xiong bridges academia and policy. He co-founded VoxChina.org to foster China-world economic dialogue and co-edited The Handbook of China’s Financial System (Princeton University Press). His keynote addresses at major conferences—including the 2024 Chinese Economists Society meeting on “Information Discovery in a Hybrid Economy”—demonstrate sustained policy influence. Labs and Initiatives: Xiong leads Princeton's Bendheim Center for Finance research initiatives and directs VoxChina.org, which produces influential policy analyses on China's economy. His recent work includes the NBER-commissioned study on commodity market risks and ongoing projects examining big tech lending models and data privacy impacts on digital finance.
Clio Andris is an Associate Professor at Georgia Tech, jointly appointed in the School of City and Regional Planning and the School of Interactive Computing. She directs the Friendly Cities Lab, focusing on mathematical models of social networks applied to urban planning, transportation, and geography. Her work integrates spatial analysis with visualization, emphasizing interdisciplinary collaboration. Education and Career: Andris earned a PhD in Urban Information Systems from MIT (2011), where she was an NDSEG Fellow. She held postdoctoral positions at Singapore-MIT Alliance for Research and Technology and the Santa Fe Institute. Prior to Georgia Tech, she was a faculty member at Penn State’s Department of Geography, affiliated with the GeoVISTA Center. Research Focus: Her research bridges social networks, geovisualization, and urban informatics. Key areas include spatial social network analysis, GIS applications for urban policy, and the impact of digital tools on civic engagement. She has developed innovative visual analytics tools like SNoMaN and ROBIN to democratize spatial data exploration. Awards: She received the NSF CAREER Award (2021) and NDSEG Fellowship (2011). Her lab is affiliated with the Center for Spatial Planning Analytics and Visualization (CSPAV) and the Information Visualization Lab. Labs and Collaborations: The Friendly Cities Lab focuses on socially just urban design through computational methods. Her work addresses issues like food security networks, pandemic impacts on biodiversity, and community mapping for activism. Grants and Outreach: Her NSF-funded projects emphasize public good applications, such as real-time pandemic risk communication and educational tools for migration data. She actively collaborates with non-profits and policymakers to translate research into actionable urban strategies.
Lance Freeman is the Penn Integrates Knowledge (PIK) Professor of City and Regional Planning and Sociology at the University of Pennsylvania's School of Arts & Sciences. His research focuses on neighborhood dynamics, gentrification, urban poverty, housing policy, and the interplay between the built environment and public health. He holds a Ph.D. in City and Regional Planning from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (1997), an MRP in Regional Planning (1991), and a B.S. in Business Administration from SUNY Buffalo (1987). Prior to academia, he worked at Mathematica Policy Research and as a City Planner at the New York City Housing Authority. Freeman teaches courses on urban planning theory, quantitative methods, and community development at Columbia University and the University of Delaware. His research interests include understanding neighborhood change, leveraging social media and technology for urban analysis, and promoting equitable urban development. Key publications include There Goes the Hood: Views of Gentrification from the Ground Up (2006), A Haven and a Hell: The Ghetto in Black America (2019), and co-authored Planning and Control of Land Development (2020). He has contributed to debates on inclusionary zoning, racial equity planning, and the impacts of urban policies on marginalized communities. Freeman's work intersects urban sociology, policy analysis, and spatial demography. His recent studies explore gentrification migration patterns, the role of social media in neighborhood change, and historical segregation dynamics. He advocates for evidence-based planning to address urban inequality and spatial injustice.
Lyubov Zhyznomirska is an Associate Professor of Political Science at Saint Mary's University, specializing in European studies, migration governance, and democratization processes. She holds a PhD in Political Science from the University of Alberta (2012), with a focus on EU migration cooperation with Eastern neighbors. Her current research examines the reception of war-displaced Ukrainians in Canada, the UK, and Germany. She has held a Jean Monnet Post-Doctoral Fellowship and is active in research networks such as the European Community Studies Association-Canada and the Migration Research Network. Teaching focuses on comparative politics, European Union politics, and migration studies. Recent SSHRC-funded projects include studies on Ukrainian refugee integration in Nova Scotia and the impact of temporary status on newcomer youth. Awards include the Jean Monnet Post-Doctoral Fellowship (2011-2012). Research interests include forced displacement, post-war societies, and EU-Ukraine-Russia dynamics. She co-edited The Routledge Handbook of the Politics of Migration in Europe (2019) and publishes in journals such as Comparative European Politics . Professional roles include Treasurer of ECSA-Canada (2021-2024) and President of the Atlantic Provinces Political Science Association (2022-2023).
