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Alena Stern
SHE/HER/HERS
Chief Data Scientist
Office of Race and Equity Research
  • Profile
  • Outside Affiliations
  • Alena Stern is the chief data scientist at the Urban Institute, leading Urban’s data science team. She is also a member of the Racial Equity Analytics Lab within the Office of Race and Equity Research. Her research focuses on creating data science tools and informing policy solutions to advance equity and inclusion. Before joining Urban, she worked at AidData, the Sunlight Foundation, and the Center for Data Science and Public Policy, where she used machine learning, natural language processing, statistical analysis, and geospatial data to inform the design of government policies and international development programs.

    Stern holds a BA in economics and international relations from the College of William and Mary and an MS in computational analysis and public policy from the University of Chicago.

    Research Areas
    Race and equity
    Neighborhoods, cities, and metros
    Artificial intelligence
    Tags
    Racial Equity Analytics Lab


    Outside Affiliations
    Georgetown University, McCourt School of Public Policy
    Adjunct Professor
    Body

    Urban experts are permitted and empowered to work and affiliate with outside organizations, whether serving on boards, volunteering their time, or providing advice and counsel. And Urban welcomes visiting scholars, nonresident or affiliated fellows who work for other organizations. These outside affiliations enrich our perspectives and our learning environment. We also require all paid and unpaid experts to disclose their affiliations to Urban leadership and follow rules governing their engagement to ensure transparency for audiences and independence of experts.