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Michele Claibourn
I am a political scientist, data scientist, and community-engaged scholar with over 20 years of experience teaching and leading research and data science teams.
My work centers on action-based research, using the tools of data science to promote accountable governance, make social inequities visible, and impact public policy.
Professional Experience
Leadership
Envision, design, and lead research projects with academi, government, and community partners seeking to understand racial and other disparities and to develop policy responses. Manage multiple projects and train and mentor students engaging in community-engaged data science.
Manage teams ranging from 4 to 12 full-time staff and 3 to 6 graduate fellows across mulitple collaborations on a range of interdisciplinary research projects.
Founded StatLab, a data science consulting service for members of the UVA community. Built a new division within the library to support the growing data science research community at UVA, recruiting, hiring, and managing a team with diverse skills and talents.
Director of Community-Centered Analysis, Assisstant Professor of Public Policy
The Center for Community Partnerships and The Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy, University of Virginia
N/A
Current - 2021
- Lead the Community-Centered Analysis initiative in the UVA Center for Community Partnership to provide data tools, research and analysis in collaboration with leaders and advocates promoting regional equity.
- Teach courses on public interest data and on equitable poilcy in the Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy.
- Affilitated Faculty in the School of Data Science, 2024-present
Director, Research Data Services & Sciences
UVA Library, University of Virginia
N/A
2021 - 2013
- Build data services team to support data use and infrastructure; manage library staff and services for the social, natural, and engineering sciences; provide statistical consultation and instruction to researchers across disciplines.
- Data Science Director, The Equity Center, 2020-2021 (25% appointment), lead the Democratization of Data initative.
- Faculty Affiliate & Lead Data Scientist, Global Policy Center, 2019-2021, develop predictive analytics on the magnitude, and duration of mass-displacement with Save the Children, International.
- Associate Director, Data Science Institute, 2014-2016 (25% appointment), contribute to services and infrastructure for data-intensive research.
Senior Researcher, Demographics Research Group
Weldon Cooper Center for Public Service, University of Virginia
N/A
2013 - 2011
- Design and conduct quantiative and demographic research for local governments, civic sector clients, and the public interest.
Assistant Professor
University of Virginia (2004-2011) and University of Oklahoma (2002-2004)
N/A
2011 - 2002
Education
PhD., Political Science
University of Wisconsin-Madison
Madison, WI
2002
BA, Political Science
Rice University
Houston, TX
1993
Teaching and Mentoring
20+ years teaching statistical methods and research design, policy processes and evaluation, and political behavior, political communication, and political psychology to undergraduate and graduate students.
Mentor students in community-engaged research and data science practices through classes and supplementary opportunities.
Designed and managed data and methods workshop series for student and adult learning communities, including recruiting and mentoring instructors, marketing and assessment, and contributing to select topics.
Teaching and Mentoring
Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy
University of Virginia
N/A
Current - 2018
- Imagining Equitable Policy, Public Interest Data: Ethics & Practice, Data Visualization, Gun Violence Clinic, Saving Lives with Data, Project First Gen
Community Data Fellow Program
UVA Center for Community Partnerships and School of Data Science
N/A
Current - 2023
- Mentoring PhD students in community-engaged data science projects
Publications
Research Interests
My research interests revolve around understanding how citizens can build and exert power, how institutions and conditions support or weaken political awareness.
This includes: examining the production of social capital and how social capital promotes policy accountability; researching how citizens learn and use accountability standards during campaigns; investigating the consequences of citizen participation.
My applied research pursues similar threads by working with community partners to create analysis and tools that support resident advocacy and accountable governance.
Confederate monuments and the history of lynching in the American South: An empirical examination
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Oct 2021 (With Kyshia Henderson, Samuel Powers, Jazmin L. Brown-Iannuzzi, and Sophie Trawalter)
N/A
2021
Bigger on the Inside: Building Research Data Services at the University of Virginia
Insights 28: 100-106
N/A
2015
Citizen Participation and Congressional Responsiveness: New Evidence for Why Participation Matters
Legislative Studies Quarterly 38: 59-82 (With Paul Martin)
N/A
2013
Hearing Campaign Appeals: The Accountability Implications of Campaign Tone
Political Communication 29: 64-85
N/A
2012
Creating Constituencies: Presidential Campaigns, Selective Mobilization, and the Scope of Conflict
Political Behavior 34: 27-56 (With Paul Martin)
N/A
2012
Presidential Campaigns and Presidential Accountability
University of Illinois Press, Series on Democracy, Free Enterprise, and the Rule of Law
N/A
2011
Gender Differences in Citizen-Level Democratic Citizenship: Evidence from the Comparative Study of Electoral Systems
Presented to the Midwest Political Science Association (2001) (With Virginia Sapiro)
N/A
2001
- 2001 Winner, Sophonisba Breckenridge Award for best paper on Women & Politics, Midwest Political Science Association Annual Meeting
Data Projects and Tools
- Inferential and predictive modeling
- Data visualization and computation
- Spatial analysis
- Text analytics
- Qualitative methods
- R, RStudio, Shiny
- Git, GitHub
- Stata, SPSS, SAS
Virginia’s Geography of Eviction
The Center for Community Partnerships, University of Virginia (With Sam Toet)
N/A
2026
Eastern Shore of Virginia Livability Tool
The Center for Community Partnerships, University of Virginia (With Beth Mitchell)
N/A
2025
Virgina Evictors Catalog
The Equity Center, University of Virginia and The RVA Eviction Lab, Virginia Commonwealth University
N/A
2023 - 2022
Charlottesville Region Climate Equity Atlas
Picturing Climate Justice Exhibit, UVA Equity Center and the Jefferson School African American Heritage Center
N/A
2022
Selected Reports and Public Writing
Charlottesville and Albemarle Community Welbeing Profiles
The Center for Community Partnerships, University of Virginia (With Beth Mitchell and Henry DeMarco)
N/A
2025
Gun Violence in Charlottesville & Albemarle
The Center for Community Partnerships, University of Virginia (With Samantha Toet)
N/A
2025
Orange Dot Report 6.0: Family Self-Sufficiency in the Charlottesville Region
Network2Work@PVCC, Piedmont Virginia Community College and The Equity Center, University of Virginia (With Ridge Schuyler and Beth Mitchell)
N/A
2024
Charlottesville Urban Heat Islands
The Equity Center, University of Virginia (With Beth Mitchell and Lee LeBouef)
N/A
2024
Stepping Stones Report and Stepping Stones Supplemental Report
The Equity Center, University of Virginia (With Beth Mitchell, Lee LeBouef, and the Public Interest Data class)
N/A
2023
Albemarle County Equity Profile: Centering Equity in Evaluating Well-Being & Quality of LIfe for Albemarle County Residents
The Equity Center, University of Virginia (With Sam Powers, Michael Salgueiro, Siri Russell, Barbara Brown Wilson, and Alissa Ujie Diamond)
N/A
2021
Albemarle County Child Welfare Study
Report to the Albemarle Department of Social Services (With the Public Interest Data Lab)
N/A
2021
Charlottesville Child Welfare Study: Understanding Referral Disproportionality
Report to the Charlottesville Department of Social Services (With Hannah Lewis and the Public Interest Data Lab)
N/A
2020
Charlottesville Foster Care Study
Report to the Charlottesville Department of Social Services (With Charlotte McClintock and the Public Interest Data Lab)
N/A
2019
Charlottesville Child Welfare Study
Report to the Charlottesville Department of Social Services (With Charlotte McClintock and the Public Interest Data Lab)
N/A
2018
Recent Grants and Awards
Redressing mental health inequities: Developing and testing a youth mental health dashboard ($441K)
Precision Health Initiative at UVA
N/A
2026 - 2024
- With Michael Lyons, Faith Zabek, Catherine Bradshaw, and Coby Meyers
Building Capacity for Data-driven Adaptation in Rural Coastal Communities ($5M)
National Science Foundation, Coasts and People
N/A
2026 - 2021
- Senior Personnel (PI: Karen McGlathery)
A Housing Justice Atlas for Virginia ($25K)
4-VA at UVA Collaborative Research Program, University of Virginia
N/A
2021
- Co-Principal Investigator, with Barbara Brown Wilson
Needs Assessment and Development of a Proprietary Eviction Database ($20K)
Thomas Jefferson Planning District Commission
N/A
2021
The Charlottesville Regional Equity Atlas: Co-Creating with Our Community ($87.5K)
New Venture Fund’s Public Interest Technology University Network Challenge
N/A
2021
- Principal Investigator, with Barbara Brown Wilson
Building a Collaborative Regional Equity Atlas ($150K)
Institute for Museum and Library Services
N/A
2020 - 2018
- Co-Principal Investigator, with Rebecca Coleman
Thrive Grant for Project First Gen Plus ($4K)
Office of the Provost and Center for Teaching Excellence, University of Virginia
N/A
2019
- Co-Principal Investigator, with Paul Martin
A Data Catalog to Promote Access to Open Health Data ($19K)
National Network of Libraries of Medicine
N/A
2018 - 2017
- Co-Principal Investigator, with Bart Ragon