Friday April 28, 2023, 10:00 a.m. – 6:00 p.m. ET US
Our annual data for justice conference will take place ONLINE, on Friday, April 28, 2023. The schedule is still finalizing, but we are very excited to announce our initial round of speakers, including keynote speaker Elie Mystal!
Registration is now open. The event is free for Consortium members; tickets are $100 for the general public ($150 after March 17), $40 for affiliate students ($50 after March 17), and $75 for affiliate faculty members ($100 after March 17). If you would like to attend, but the registration fees pose a financial burden, please contact us to receive a complimentary guest code.
In addition to the Data4Justice Conference, we will host our annual Student Quantitative Action Research for Equity and Diversity (SQuARED Justice) poster session, which will take place over lunch. Please submit a poster for consideration by Friday, March 31, 2023.
Please see our pages for previous conferences in 2021 and 2022, and visit the Data4justice Conference YouTube playlist.
Keynote Speaker: Elie Mystal
Talk Title: Why Judges Are Afraid Of Data?

Elie Mystal, is the Justice Correspondent for The Nation, where he writes about politics and social and racial justice. Elie’s first book, Allow Me To Retort – A Black Guy’s Guide to the Constitution was on the NYT’s bestsellers list in April 2022. Mystal was executive editor of Above the Law, a website with around 2,000,000 unique visitors that focuses on law, courts, and justice.
He’s known for writing about the law and politics, breaking down Supreme Court decisions and up to the minute coverage of Supreme Court confirmation battles.
Off the page, Mystal is a legal contributor to the More Perfect podcast, a Radiolab spinoff, on WNYC. He’s appeared regularly on MSNBC since 2018, appearing on All In With Chris Hayes, The Beat With Ari Melber, A.M. Joy with Joy Reid and Up with David Gura. On the Radio, Mystal has been a frequent guest on the Brian Lehrer Show, the Dean Obedallah Show, Signal Boost with Zerlina Maxwell. He’s also appeared on The Mike Huckabee Show, the Megyn Kelly Show, Red Eye with Greg Gutfeld, and done various appearances on
CNBC and Fox Business about legal industry news.
Mystal received his undergraduate degree in Government from Harvard University, his J.D. from Harvard Law School, and worked as an associate at Debevoise and Plimpton from 2003-2005.
Unlimited Discretion to Detain: using data to identify the individual judges who disproportionately drive mass incarceration
Oded Oren (he/him/his)
Abstract: Criminal court judges are the most powerful actors in the criminal legal system and are therefore directly implicated in perpetuating mass incarceration, systemic racism, and the erosion of civil liberties. Yet historically these judges have not been scrutinized, or held accountable, for their decisions. Scrutinize uses analyses of the decisions that individual criminal court judges to bring transparency and accountability to the judiciary.

Oded Oren (he/him/his) is the founder and executive director of Scrutinize, an organization that advocates to hold accountable the most powerful actors in the criminal legal system – state judges – by using innovative, scalable, and data-informed tools. Before founding Scrutinize, Oded was a public defender at the Bronx Defenders. He is a graduate of Harvard College and Harvard Law School.
The Stopping Trafficking and Modern Slavery Project (STAMP) Research Lab
Diana Estefanía Estrada Alamo (she/they) and Geri Louise Dimas (she/her)
Abstract: With support from and in partnership with RedCompass Labs, the Stopping Trafficking And Modern-day Slavery Project (STAMP) research lab looks at the broad landscape of human trafficking, online child sex work, and modern slavery, which differentially impact women, children, and communities of color globally, and is working to build financial algorithms to identify and disrupt human trafficking activities.

Diana Estefanía Estrada Alamo (she/they) is a Mexican-born, Seattle-raised, and Baltimore City-based public health research professional. They have comprehensive experience evaluating program-based interventions, creating efficient and methodical monitoring tools, and translating health disparities using innovative data visualizations. They hold a Master of Public Health from the Yale School of Public Health and a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Pennsylvania. She is currently a Program Manager for Health Disparities Initiatives working in the public sector.

Geri Louise Dimas (she/her/hers) is a Ph.D. candidate in Data Science at Worcester Polytechnic Institute. Prior to joining her current program, she obtained a B.A. in Actuarial Science and a B.S. in Computer Science from Roosevelt University, followed by an M.S. in Applied Statistics from Bowling Green State University. Her educational journey has been motivated by her love for data and the ways it can be used to better assist underserved and marginalized communities. Her current research focuses on seeking ways to improve processes that involve vulnerable populations such as those experiencing homelessness, human trafficking, and immigration.
A Road to Inequity Paved with Good Intentions: Data Science and Health Care Delivery in the US
Taj Mustapha, Chief of Equity Strategy, M Health Fairview
Abstract: Researchers have uncovered racial disparities in infant and maternal mortality, survival after myocardial infarction, pain control for long bone fractures, vaccine administration, cancer screening, minimally-invasive versus radical surgical procedures, and more. However, those inequities remain. In fact, many times institutional efforts to address racial and other disparities have resulted in increased disparities. In order to understand why, it is important to understand the barriers to equity fundamental to the foundation of modern medicine and healthcare delivery in the US. This talk seeks to expose some of those foundational and systemic barriers, and to generate discussion about the role of data science in overcoming these barriers in the future.

Dr. Mustapha received her MD from the University of California San Francisco, and completed her combined internal medicine and pediatrics residency training at the University of Minnesota. She is an Assistant Professor of Internal Medicine and Pediatrics at the University of Minnesota and serves as the Assistant Dean for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion for the medical school as well as the Chief of Equity Strategy for M Health Fairview. Her academic interests focus on assessments as they relate to both education and health care delivery, with special attention to equity and inclusion.
Squared justice Poster session
Poster Title: Demystifying the Complex Racial and Gender Disparities in the Economic Statuses of American Citizens

Divyalakshmi Varadha Rajan Prem Sudha (Divya) is currently an undergraduate freshman majoring in Computer Science and minoring in Data Science at Michigan State University(MSU). She has experience working in research as a Professorial Assistant in the Computational Mathematics, Sciences, and Engineering Department at MSU on projects involving Single Cell Analysis using Deep Learning and Data Science methods for over 7 months under the guidance of Dr. Yuying Xie. Divya also serves as a Student Technical Intern at Michigan State University’s Institute for Cyber-Enabled Research (ICER) and has worked to power up a Raspberry Pi-based Supercomputer. She’s really passionate about working on ground-breaking research that would help make a difference in society. Apart from academics and research, Divya enjoys reading, writing poetry, and singing. She is also actively involved on-campus in many clubs such as the Outreach Chair for Spartan Hackers and as a Front-end Developer for the Imagine Software Club. This is her first time presenting her research at a conference. A fun fact about Divya is that she can fall asleep even after drinking coffee!
Poster Title: Analysis of the relationship between school resource officers and in-school juvenile arrest rates

Serena Deleonardo is a M.S. student of Applied Mathematics at the University of Colorado Boulder with a passion for data analysis and environmental science. Her current research focus is on downslope windstorms in the Colorado’s Front Range and assessing how their climatology has changed over the last 21 years. In the past, she has researched stochastic population models and surfzone dynamics using computer vision. While earning her M.S. in Environmental Science, she has volunteered in social and environmental justice groups extensively. In her free time, Serena loves venturing into the mountains, painting, baking and nature photography.
Poster Title: Racial Bias in North Carolina Justice System

Clarissa Ache Cabello is a student in the Duke University MIDS Program. She is committed to using her data science skills to examining issues related to racial and gender inequity, and has worked on multiple projects, including the North Carolina JUSTFAIR analysis, Durham County SToPA Project, and she recently completed a month-long intensive research project at IMSI at the University of Chicago.
Poster Title: How to Address Underrepresentation in Colorado’s Gifted and Talented (GT) Programs

Vanessa Maybruck is a Ph.D. student, NSF Integrated Data Science Fellow, and NSF Graduate Research Fellow at the University of Colorado Boulder in the Department of Applied Mathematics. She is also pursuing her Ph.D. certificate in Interdisciplinary Quantitative Biology through CU’s BioFrontiers Institute. She is interested in leveraging mathematical modeling and data science to study a broad array of problems, currently focusing on educational equity and human impacts on the environment. Vanessa graduated from Kutztown University in May 2022 with dual degrees in Applied Mathematics and secondary mathematics education with a minor in Biochemistry.
Poster Title: QSIDE JUSTFair Data Toolbox: Using Analytics to Detect Judicial Biases

Mary Andrews is a senior at Michigan State University studying Computational Data Science at Michigan State University. She is currently a student in the CDS Capstone, CMSE 495, where she is completing a project sponsored by QSIDE JUSTFAIR. The project aims to create a Toolbox resource for voters to access information about judicial biases. Mary will graduate May 2023. Her post-graduation plan is to work for IBM Federal in Washington D.C. as a Federal Consultant Data Scientist. In her free time Mary enjoys reading, running, and being outdoors.

Alexis Morse is a senior at Michigan State University studying Computational Data Science at Michigan State University’s College of Engineering. Currently, she is privileged to be partnered with QSIDE JUSTFAIR team because of her Capstone class through MSU. She works as an Undergraduate Learning assistant at Michigan State for the CMSE department teaching students computational modeling tools and python techniques focused on data and statistical analysis. This coming June, she will be working as a Cloud Solutions Engineer for Humana health insurance company. In her free time, she likes to advocate for social justice and learn about cyber security, machine learning, and business investment.

Jason Nitkiewicz is a senior at Michigan State University majoring in Computational Data Science. In his senior design / capstone course, he was put on a QSIDE JUSTFAIR team focusing on building a toolbox for future researchers to use. After graduating this May, Jason plans to start working in McClean, Virginia at Capital One as a Business Analyst. In his free time, his hobbies include board games, movies, going to the gym, and hopefully continuing to work for QSIDE going forward.

Kevin Su is a senior at Michigan State University studying Computational Data Science in the College of Engineering. He is part of his Computation Data Science Capstone working on a project sponsored by QSIDE-JUSTFAIR. Kevin is the current president of Spartan Toastmasters, a public-speaking MSU student organization. He is currently a Business Intelligence Intern at Michigan State Federal Credit Union. In his free time, Kevin enjoys writing, playing board games, and traveling and he has a passion for baking and cooking.
The Small town police accountability (STOPA) toolkit and research lab
Manuch Aminian (he/him), Ranthony Edmonds (she/her), Anna Haensch (she/her), and Jude Higdon (any pronouns)
Abstract: The ongoing murder of Black and brown persons by police has made clear the need for visibility into and accountability for police and policing in all of our communities. While larger cities often gain more attention and have greater resources to put toward analyzing policing data, smaller towns and jurisdictions also need increased visibility and scrutiny. With more than 75% of incorporated places in the United States having populations of less than 5,000 people, and more than 60% of the U.S. population living in cities with populations of fewer than 50,000 people, the need for a toolkit to support the collecting, cleaning, analyzing, and leveraging policing data from small towns is clear. The STOPA Research Lab has been working for the past two years to build this toolkit, and is excited to launch our beta at the Data4Justice Conference!

Manuchehr Aminian, Ph.D. is an assistant professor in the mathematics & statistics department at Cal Poly Pomona, after receiving his PhD at UNC Chapel Hill in 2016. He has interests in partial differential equations, numerical analysis, anomaly detection and sparse feature selection in biomedical data, data driven police accountability, and applied mathematics education.

Ranthony A.C. Edmonds, Ph.D. is an NSF MPS Ascending Postdoctoral Researcher at The Ohio State University, a SIAM-MGB Early Career Fellow, and an Associate Editor at the American Mathematical Monthly. Her research interests include commutative ring theory, applied algebraic topology, data science, and mathematics education.
She earned a PhD in Mathematics in 2018 from the University of Iowa, an MS in Mathematical Sciences from Eastern Kentucky University in 2013, and a BA in English and a BS in Mathematics from the University of Kentucky in 2011. She also holds two graduate certificates from the University of Iowa, one in College Teaching, and another in Online Teaching.

Anna Haensch, Ph.D. is a senior data scientist in the Tufts University Data Intensive Studies Center with a secondary appointment in the Department of Mathematics. She earned a PhD in mathematics from Wesleyan University. Her research lies at the intersection of mathematics and the social sciences and it deals with the many ways that we can use data to help make a safer, more sustainable, and more equitable world.

Jude Higdon. Ed.D. serves as the Chief Operations Officer for the QSIDE Institute, as well as the Chief Information Officer and AVP for IT at Bennington College in Southern Vermont. As the co-founder of the QSIDE Institute, Jude helps to develop programs to promote and further the use of quantitative methods to address historical oppression and marginalization. Previously, Jude worked at the convergence of technology and education at more than ten institutions of higher learning. He has also developed online learning environments for several major not-for-profit organizations including the Planned Parenthood Federation of America, the American Red Cross, the National Wildlife Federation, and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. She is committed to the areas of diversity, equity and inclusion in STEAM disciplines, and recently helped to found a scholarship at Bennington College focused on recruiting and retaining women of color interested in studying in and pursuing careers in these disciplines.
Institutional Racism and Sexism in STEM Education
Nathanial Brown (he/him)
Abstract: I’ll discuss a recent project that quantifies inequities in STEM-degree attainment in higher education. In a nutshell, STEM students with different identities have different probabilities of attaining a STEM degree. Specifically, women and students of color are driven out of STEM pathways at higher rates, even when they have identical high school preparation and success in first-semester “weed out” classes. Institutions of higher education can’t point fingers elsewhere. We are part of the problem and maintaining the status quo is a demonstrable injustice. I’ll close with suggestions for dismantling some structural barriers to equity in higher STEM education.

Dr. Brown is Professor of Mathematics at Penn State University (PSU), after holding research
positions at Institut Henri Poincaré, University of California at Berkeley, Mathematical Sciences
Research Institute, Michigan State University, and University of Tokyo. His research has
received continuous support from the National Science Foundation since 1999. His teaching has
been recognized by PSU’s highest honor, the Eisenhower Teaching Award. He coordinates the
math component of the Millennium Scholars Program, PSU’s premier undergraduate program
aiming to diversify STEM fields. His advocacy for equity and inclusion have been recognized by
a Robinson Equal Opportunity Award and TEDx talk on “The Math People Myth.” An Affiliate
at the Institute for Quantitative Study of Inclusion, Diversity and Equity (QSIDE) and Research
Associate in PSU’s Center for the Study of Higher Education, his research now focuses on
(in)equity in STEM education.
Event Schedule
Open and Welcome: QSIDE Staff | 10:00 am – 10:10 am |
Opening Plenary: Elie Mystal | 10:10 am – 11:00 am |
Talk 1: Unlimited Discretion to Detain: Using data to identify the individual judges who disproportionately drive mass incarceration, Oded Oren (he/him/his) | 11:00 am – 11:50 am |
Talk 2: The Stopping trafficking and modern slavery project (STAMP) research lab, Diana Estefanía Estrada Alamo (she/they) and Geri Dimas (she/her) | 12:00 am – 12:50 pm |
Talk 3: A Road to Inequity Paved with Good Intentions: Data Science and Health Care Delivery in the US, Taj Mustafa, M.D. (she/her) | 1:00 pm – 1:50 pm |
Lunch Break and SQuARED Justice Poster Session | 2:00pm – 2:50 pm |
Talk 4: The Small town police accountability (STOPA) toolkit and research lab, Manuch Aminian (he/him), Ranthony Edmonds (she/her), Anna Haensch (she/her), and Jude Higdon (any pronouns) | 3:00 pm – 3:50 pm |
Talk 5: Institutional Racism and Sexism in STEM Education, Nathanial Brown (he/him) | 4:00 pm – 4:50 pm |
Closing Remarks and Next Steps: Chad Topaz, Ph.D., QSIDE Executive Director of Research | 5:00 pm – 5:30 pm |