satej soman

hello, i'm satej. thank you for stopping by my institutionally-mandated profile. you're looking very self-confident today. i hope you have a chance to do something you've been putting off for a while that's been weighing on your mind.

at the ischool, i use remotely-sensed data (e.g. satellite imagery, digital traces) and statistical and computational techniques to study global trends in inequality, urbanization, and the built environment. i am broadly interested in closing the gap between data- and prediction-driven policy insights and actual outcomes on the ground. my work has been supported by the world bank, the national science foundation (through the blum center for developing economies), the center for effective global action, the centre for economic policy research, and the global policy laboratory.

before coming to the ischool, i:

• advised governments in south and southeast asia on their response to the COVID-19 pandemic,
• designed participatory urban planning tools for informal settlement activists in western and sub-saharan africa,
• led engineering teams building data management platforms for clients in cybersecurity, insurance, healthcare, and aviation; and
• worked at a startup leveraging computer vision techniques for gesture-based interfaces.

my undergrad was in materials science and electrical engineering at cal (#bearssquared) and i picked up a master's degree in computational analysis and public policy from the harris school at the university of chicago.