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.
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