Our team is an interdisciplinary group of graduate students from the University of California, Berkeley School of Information.
Aiste is a User Experience Researcher, passionate about using her skills to help imagine and design better, more equitable futures. Prior to earning her Master Degree in Information Management and Systems at UC Berkeley, she worked at a health-tech startup creating a program for individuals to make lifestyle changes as a form of preventative health-care.
Angela Liu is a data engineer and data scientist interested in building systems that improve delivery of nonprofit and public services. Prior to her Masters, Angela worked to improve the US healthcare system in both a management consulting and nonprofit capacity.
Rui Li is a recent graduate from UC Berkeley with an emphasis on data science, geospatial analysis, and healthcare applications. In the summer of 2022, Rui interned at Freenome as a clinical informatics data scientist.
Gareen Simone Puglia is a storyteller from Southern California. She recently graduated from UC Berkeley with a Masters in Information Management and Systems with a Graduate Certificate in New Media from the Berkeley Center for New Media. Before her graduate studies, Gareen worked in journalism and digital media as a Story Producer. You can read her published work here and reach out to her on LinkedIn.
Ian Castro is an applied data scientist with a background in investigative journalism, education policy, and eviction research. Ian’s work focuses on building equity and accessibility of information in marginalized communities.
Shahan Shahid is a data scientist interested in journalism, data visualization, and problem solving. Shahan has applied data science experience in multiple contexts including development economics, philanthropy in Asia, and zoning reform in California among others.
UC Berkeley’s Othering and Belonging Institute is a group dedicated to advancing research that transforms structural marginalization and inequality. This institute is composed of a coalition of scholars, community organizers, researchers, artists, and communicators.
The Eviction Research Network is a UC Berkeley research group under the larger Urban Displacement Project that focuses on collecting, analyzing, and mapping the demographics of eviction. Described as “a collaborative research project for social good,” the ERN is to increase public awareness of the prevalence and drivers of eviction nationwide, particularly in understudied regions.
So many people and organizations contributed to our project. We would like to highlight them all with our deepest gratitude.
Special thanks to Kaitlyn Quackenbush and everyone at Richmond LAND for having many conversations with us, grounding us in the local context of Richmond. Richmond LAND is a member-based organization whose mission is to build community power and maintain long-term affordability by holding land and properties in a community land trust.
Thank you to our faculty advisor Professor Morgan Ames, for being a constant source of support and an extremely positive sounding board. Thank you for providing us with such incredible feedback and for making this process such an enjoyable one.
Thank you to Professor Steve Fadden, who provided our team with incredible guidance on our UX Research. Thank you for teaching us the power of listening and for being so generous with your time.
Thank you to our research partners: OBI, ERN, and Richmond LAND. We are thankful for the opportunity to collaborate and realize our goal with their support and willingness to share data and speak to our team. We hope to have advanced their goals through our work.
Thank you to everyone we spoke to for our informational interviews— the insight and information we gained from each discussion was invaluable to our work. Thank you for taking the time to talk with us about your work and what you would like to see in the housing space. Our narrative is informed by your insight and feedback.
Thank you to the ISchool community and faculty— we are very touched by the support we have received and have been motivated by the passion of our peers. We hope we have been able to teach you all as much as you have taught us.