Research At Siegel
We support research projects and scholars in academia, think tanks, and nonprofit institutions that align with our interest areas, while building our own in-house research capacity.
We believe
The impact potential of a philanthropic organization goes beyond the individual impact of specific grants or even broader strategies.
A well-functioning philanthropy is also a learning organization. It should learn from successes as well as failures, connect the dots between issue silos and sectors, be humble about what it knows, and identify gaps in knowledge that need to be filled. It is our goal that advancing knowledge in our grantmaking interest areas will lead to better decision making for ourselves and other funders, as well as for policy makers, and leaders in the private and nonprofit sectors.
Approach
We are focused on three core activities.
Knowledge
We deploy grants to support people and institutions working on projects of mutual interest, and leverage our internal research capacity to elevate and connect the knowledge produced to the stakeholders who need it. Our internal research efforts sit at the intersection of proactive research and information synthesis, focusing on longer-term trends and fundamental questions facing society and the economy.
Insights
We contribute novel insights guided by a diverse range of approaches that add nuance to the state of knowledge and debate. In our information-rich world, there are many places to find in-depth information on any particular topic. Our work will undertake projects that connect the dots between issue areas in ways that are unconventional and actionable.
Networks
We aim to support and convene networks of researchers as well as to be active contributing members of those networks as researchers ourselves. In today’s rapidly-evolving world, sharing ideas, combining and recombining hunches, and working across ideological and disciplinary boundaries are more important than ever.
Our Research Areas
Our research interests lie at the intersection of technology and social sciences, and include questions around intelligence, information, innovation, development, decisions, and design. These interests guide our research-oriented grantmaking, our External Fellows Program, and our internal research.
In each of these areas
We ask how technology can be shaped and deployed in ways that better society.
We believe that the path of technological innovation is not set in stone, but rather guided by decisions made by us all. Our goal is to help inform those that are developing innovations, those that deploy new technologies, and those that set policies and guidelines across sectors.
Siegel Family Endowment is proud to introduce our fourth cohort of Partner Research Fellows.
Selected by leading institutions that have received support from our grantmaking, the fellows explore instrumental research questions underpinning our grantmaking while bolstering our in-house research capabilities. The fellows participate in research projects with support from the foundation through research seminars, hosting events, and sharing content that sheds light on their work and interest areas with our larger community. Follow along on our Research Insights page and the fellows’ social channels.
Júlia Martins Rodrigues
Júlia Martins Rodrigues, Ph.D., is a governor-appointed commissioner at the Colorado Office of Economic Development and International Trade, serving the…
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Emma Zajdela
Emma Zajdela is an Intelligence Community Postdoctoral Research Fellow at Princeton University in the High Meadows Environmental Institute and School…
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Aidan Toner-Rodgers
Aidan is a second-year PhD student in Economics at MIT. His research focuses on the economics of science and innovation,…
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Alexandra Mateescu
Alexandra Mateescu is a researcher with Data & Society’s Labor Futures program, where she has worked for the last decade…
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Ben Zipperer
Ben Zipperer joined the Economic Policy Institute in 2016. His areas of expertise include the minimum wage, inequality, and low-wage…
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Caroline Sinders
Caroline Sinders is an award winning critical designer, researcher, and artist. They’re the founder of human rights and design lab,…
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Deb Donig
Deb Donig is a Lecturer UC Berkeley’s School of Information in the MA in Data Science Program and an Assistant…
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Kylan Rutherford
Kylan Rutherford is a postdoctoral fellow at NYU’s Center for Social Media and Politics. He holds a Ph.D. and Master’s…
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Megan E. Rivera
Megan E. Rivera is a fellow for policy and advocacy at the Washington Center for Equitable Growth. Prior to joining…
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Michaela Henley
Michaela is a results-driven, service-minded professional who has committed her life to serving people and working towards social equity by…
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Pegah Moradi
Pegah Moradi is a PhD candidate in Information Science at Cornell University, where she studies the social and organizational dimensions…
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Ruchika Joshi
Ruchika Joshi is a Fellow at CDT’s AI Governance Lab, where she develops technically rigorous solutions for government and industry…
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Seungwoong Ha
Seungwoong Ha is currently an applied complexity postdoctoral fellow at Santa Fe Institute. Seungwoong received his B.S., M.S., and Ph.D.…
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Shanthi Bolla
Shanthi first joined Aspen Digital in fall of 2022. As Senior Program Manager, Shanthi works across Aspen Digital’s five main…
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