Jae Yeon Kim

Data Scientists Don’t Have Power But May Have Influence There was a time when people called data science “the sexiest job of the 21st century,” a phrase popularized by Thomas H.

New from me: Data Scientists Don’t Have Power But May Have Influence. You could replace “researchers” with “data scientists,” but I think the lessons still hold.

open.substack.com/pub/jaeyeonk...

The Contracting State and AI Policy Today, I gave a talk at the School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) in Washington, DC, on how governments procure and govern AI technologies as part of the Tech and Innovation Speakers Series.

jaeyeonkim.substack.com/p/the-contra...

Based on my talk at SAIS in DC today, I updated my post on The Contracting State and AI Policy. I hope it’s useful. I’m also very grateful to the many students who signed up and attended despite midterm exams, and for their thoughtful questions.

아시는 분은 아시겠지만, 다윈의 비글호 여행기는 사실 가난한 사람에 대한 것보다 노예제 비판이 내용의 더 주를 이루는데, 맥락은 통합니다.

[공익이 이끄는 데이터 과학] 보이지 않는 가난, 어떻게 보이게 할 것인가 - 더나은미래 김재연 미국의 공공 영역 데이터 과학자 복지가 필요한 이유는 특정한 사람이 문제가 아니라, 특정한 상황이 문제이기 때문이다.  필자는 2023년, 미국 시빅테크 단체 ‘코드 포 아메리카(Code for America)’에서 데이터 과학자로 일하면서 '우리에게는 다른

14번째 더나은미래 칼럼입니다.

보이지 않는 가난, 어떻게 보이게 할 것인가: futurechosun.com/archives/132...

복지가 필요한 이유는 특정한 사람이 문제가 아니라, 특정한 상황이 문제이기 때문이다.

Book Review: Power to the Partners (2025) by Maraam Dwidar My New Year’s resolution is to write regular book reviews, and I am starting with one for Power to the Partners by Maraam Dwidar, published this year by the University of Chicago Press.

My first book review of the year: Maraam Dwidar’s Power to the Partners: Organizational Coalitions in Social Justice Advocacy (University of Chicago Press, 2025).

jaeyeonkim.substack.com/p/book-revie...

The Contracting State and AI Policy I am excited to give a talk on how governments procure and govern AI technologies, drawing on both my professional experience and academic research, this Wednesday at SAIS in Washington, DC.

New from me: I’ll be giving a talk on this topic (though under a different title) at SAIS in D.C. this Wednesday.

open.substack.com/pub/jaeyeonk...

How to Not Give Up Having spent the past few years working closely with state and local governments to reduce burdens in safety net programs, this year has been particularly challenging.

My first Substack post:
jaeyeonkim.substack.com/p/how-to-not...
How to Not Give Up

jaeyk.github.io/us_ac_career...

지난 여름에 한국에서 많은 대학원생들을 만나서 대화를 해 보고 생각했던 점들을 정리해 보았습니다.

1. 대학원생은 더 이상 학생이 아니다
2. 대부분의 논문은 쓸 필요가 없다
3. 연구를 잘 하는 방법은 지속적 개선뿐이다

jaeyk.github.io/essays/acade...

It's or going to be a flyout season for academic job market candidates. Here are my reflections on how to give a job talk or have a good conversation around your research agenda.

Giving a talk at Johns Hopkins SAIS this coming Wednesday (Oct 15th, in person, in DC). Many thanks to Melissa Griffith for the kind invite! If you’re interested in responsible AI, especially how procurement can serve as a lever to achieve it, please join us.

www.eventbrite.com/e/move-fast-...

Go Bears! That’s our second Nobel this year (Physics and Chemistry). Counting across the UC system, that makes four. More broadly, go public universities!

The full moon over the lake

Love it 😍

New jobs for computational social scientists at UNC and USC: unc.peopleadmin.com/postings/307... amd uscjobs.sc.edu/postings/194...

Will there be an online book launch party??? 🥳

Uncivil Democracy How the civil legal system undermines the political lives of marginalized communities

My book w/@profsorelle.bsky.social will be out in January! These ideas have brewed since I interned at Queens Legal Services 20 years ago. The book is for anyone who cares about people, justice, power & democracy. Much more to share more in the coming months!

press.princeton.edu/books/hardco...

We've also created an interactive map that can help you explore these datasets: snfagora.github.io/agora_dashbo...
Many related projects are underway, so stay tuned!

FYI, if you try to measure the strength of civil society (what Hahrie, Milan, and I call civic opportunity in our 2023 Nature Human Behaviour paper), you may want to consider using our org-, county-, and ZIP code-level datasets published in Scientific Data: www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Fellow political scientists: I don’t know why we’re so obsessed with 2×2 matrices, or why every PS presentation involving such a matrix starts with the same joke, “We all love a good 2×2 matrix, hahaha.”

Oops, sorry for the typo: environmental!

Please feel free to reach out to me during APPAM if you have questions! I'm not on the search committee, but I'm happy to share my own perspectives.

As someone doing engaged and applied research, I also value that not only does the school support that, but also the broader community, including local governments and nonprofits, is eager to partner with academics.

It is also an exciting place if you are interested in data science (I wear both of those hats).

Be my colleague! UNC, and especially our Department of Public Policy, has particular strengths if your research on poverty takes an interdisciplinary perspective.

My department is hiring! We have one TT-line focusing on environemntla policy, international development, and poverty: unc.peopleadmin.com/postings/307...

The talk title is "Move Fast Without Breaking Things." You can register and find more information from here: www.eventbrite.com/e/move-fast-...

The talk will be held in person at the Bloomberg Center (555 Pennsylvania Avenue NW).

DC friends: I'm excited to share my ongoing research on procuring AI technologies at the state and local level in the U.S. government (joint work with Aniket Kesary, Fordham Law) at Johns Hopkins SAIS on October 15, 1–2 pm EDT.

They tell a story that has not been systematically documented in the literature and show how local administrators and communities solved problems together through sharing information as well as negotiating power.

My current book project (lnkd.in/gGFnjEKP) has many stories like this. Writing a book is exhausting, but cases like this remind me why this project is exciting.