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Michele Claibourn
I am a research director – a political scientist, data scientist, community-engaged scholar, and senior administrator – and professor with over 20 years of experience teaching, leading, and managing 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 and movement building.
Professional Experience
Leadership
Envision, design, and lead research projects with academic 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, 3 to 6 graduate fellows, and research teams across mulitple collaborations on a range of programmatic and 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 Equitable Analysis, Asst Professor of Public Policy
The Equity Center and The Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy, University of Virginia
N/A
2023 - 2021
- Lead the Equitable Analysis initiative in the UVA Equity Center to provide data tools, research and analysis in collaboration with leaders and advocates promoting regional equity.
- Manage equitable data science team
- 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 new research data services team to support data use and infrastructure; manage and develop library staff and services for the social, natural, and engineering sciences; provide statistical and data science 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 (pro bono), 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 Analyst
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
- Design and teach graduate-level research and statistics courses and undergraduate-level courses on political behavior and political psychology.
- Develop, implement, and publish new research on social capital, electoral responsiveness, and political communication.
Education
PhD., Political Science
University of Wisconsin-Madison
Madison, WI
2002
B.A, Political Science
Rice University
Houston, TX
1993
Teaching and Writing
20+ years of experience teaching statistics and data science methods, policy, and political behavior to undergraduate and graduate students.
Design data workshop series for student and adult learning communities, including recruiting and mentoring instructors, marketing and assessment, and contributing to select topics.
Experienced writer in multiple formats, from university press books and peer-reviewed journal articles, to action-oriented reports for local and state agencies, educational materials, and informal writing.
Skilled in communicating about data, technology, and policy to stakeholders, advocates, and learners.
Teaching and Mentoring
Lead Community Data Fellow Program
UVA Equity Center and School of Data Science
N/A
2024 - 2023
Graduate Courses
University of Virginia and University of Oklahoma
N/A
2023 - 2002
- Imagining Equitable Policy, Public Interest Data: Ethics & Practice, Data Visualization, Saving Lives with Data, Text as Data, Applied Causal Inference, General Linear Models, Linear Models, Applied Time Series, Mixed-Effects Models/Longitudinal Analysis, Introduction to Statistical Analysis
Undergraduate Courses
University of Virginia and University of Oklahoma
N/A
2020 - 2002
- Project First Gen +, Research Design & Analysis, The Presidency and the Public, Media & Political Communication, Political Pscyology & Decision Making, Citizen Competence in American Democracy, Introduction to American Politics
Publications
- Inferential and predictive modeling
- Data visualization and computation
- Spatial analysis
- Text analytics
- Qualitative methods
- R, RStudio, Shiny
- Git, GitHub
- Stata, SPSS, SAS
- Some Python and SQL
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
Recent Reports and Projects
Charlottesville Urban Heat Islands
The Equity Center, University of Virginia (With Beth Mitchell and Lee LeBouef)
N/A
2024
Stepping Stones 2023
The Equity Center, University of Virginia (With Beth Mitchell, Lee LeBouef, and the Public Interest Data class)
N/A
2023
Eastern Shore Climate Equity Atlas Prototype
The Equity Center, University of Virginia (With Beth Mitchell and Lee LeBouef)
N/A
2023
Virgina Evictors Catalog
The Equity Center, University of Virginia and The RVA Eviction Lab, Virginia Commonwealth University
N/A
2023 - 2022
Orange Dot Report 5.0: Family Self-Sufficiency in the Charlottesville Region
Network2Work@PVCC, Piedmont Virginia Community College and The Equity Center, University of Virginia (With Ridge Schuyler, Lee LeBoeuf, and Beth Mitchell)
N/A
2022
Charlottesville Region Climate Equity Atlas
Picturing Climate Justice Exhibit, UVA Equity Center and the Jefferson School African American Heritage Center
N/A
2022
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
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