In a nutshell.

I am a community-centered researcher working on a wide range of issues related to technology and social justice. I am currently the Lead Curator and Researcher for the Edgelands Institute in Houston, TX. I also serve on the leadership team of the No Tech Criminalization in Education (NOTICE) Coalition.

I recently completed my PhD at the MIT Media Lab, where my research examined the role of technology as a battleground for long-standing struggles for racial justice in the United States.

Topics include:

1) The Role of Data and Risk Prediction in Mass Pretrial Incarceration

2) Surveillance of Criminalized Communities during COVID-19

3) School Safety and Digitized Security in an Era of Mass Shootings

From 2020-2021, I was a Technology Fellow at the Carr Center for Human Rights Policy at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government. Formerly, I was a research scientist for the AI Ethics and Governance Initiative at the MIT Media Lab.

Prior to my PhD, I completed a Master’s degree in the Comparative Media Studies Program at MIT, where I worked alongside an eclectic group of researchers and students at the Center for Civic Media. The focus of my Master’s research examined Silicon Valley’s efforts to cultivate and hire a diverse technical workforce. For my thesis, I worked with CODE2040 to take a close look at the often overlooked limitations inherent in the tech industry's hiring and recruitment practices. Let’s just say it’s more than a “pipeline” problem.

These days I split my time between Nairobi, Kenya and Austin, Texas.