Prof. Catherine D'Ignazio

Professor D’Ignazio is a scholar, artist/designer, and “hacker momma” who focuses on feminist technology, data literacy, and civic engagement. She is the director of the Data + Feminism Lab, which uses data and computational methods to work toward gender and racial justice, particularly as they relate to space and place.

ID’Ignazio is interested in creative ways to democratize data science, AI, and technology for social justice. She the co-author of the 2020 book Data Feminism together with Lauren F. Klein. Her latest book, Counting Feminicide: Data Feminism in Action (MIT Press 2024), describes transnational, Latin American and Indigenous data activism about fatal gender-related violence. D’Ignazio co-lead the research and participatory design project Data Against Feminicide with Isadora Cruxên, Silvana Fumega, and Helena Suárez Val. She makes public art & design projects, write software code & research papers, teach urban planning and computer science students, run data storytelling workshops (often with Rahul Bhargava) and feminist hackathons. She is also on the board of directors of Indigenous Women Rising, an amazing group of Native women, queer and non-binary innovators who are committed to honoring Native & Indigenous People’s inherent right to equitable and culturally safe health options through accessible health education, resources and advocacy.