The Jackson School of Global Affairs Deitz Family Initiative on Environment & Global Affairs presents
Denice W. Ross, former U.S. chief data scientist with the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy:
“Disappearing Data: How might we build a more resilient national data ecosystem?”
Climate and environmental datasets, analytic tools, and reports have been disappearing from federal websites since January and remaining datasets are at risk of losing funding, staffing, timeliness, and detail. These declines in federal data are coming at a time when our nation needs its data more than ever, with seemingly endless shocks and stressors impacting American communities. This includes disasters such as climate-fueled wildfires, hurricanes, and extreme heat; rapid socio-technological changes such as AI, electrification, and a deteriorating news environment; and chronic underlying disparities across demographic, geographic, and other lines. In this talk, Denice will give an update on what’s happening with federal data and discuss how we might build a more resilient national data infrastructure that protects federal data flows; accelerates and coordinates the production of data from other sources, including state and local governments, the private sector, and nonprofits; advances modern data practices; and spurs innovation.
Denice W. Ross served as the deputy U.S. chief technology officer and as the U.S. chief data scientist in the Biden White House, where she led the charge to use disaggregated data to drive better outcomes for all Americans. She is currently focused on building a more resilient national data infrastructure. Denice’s 25-year career in using data to serve the public interest has spanned federal and local government, academia, and the nonprofit sector plus domains ranging from climate to policing. She served as a Presidential Innovation Fellow for the U.S. Department of Energy, and as director of enterprise information for the City of New Orleans. Prior to government, Denice co-directed the non-profit data intermediary Data Center where she collaborated with Brookings to track New Orleans’ recovery from Hurricane Katrina. She brought a data-driven approach to numerous post-Katrina community planning initiatives and co-founded the first new childcare center after the storm. Denice holds an MS in energy and climate policy from Johns Hopkins University and an undergraduate degree in biology from the University of Arizona, where she was a Goldwater Scholar.