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Jess Reia Selected as a 2025 Andrew Carnegie Fellow
University of Virginia School of Data Science Assistant Professor Jess Reia has been selected to receive a 2025 Andrew Carnegie Fellowship. Endowed by the Carnegie Corporation of New York, the Andrew Carnegie Fellows Program was established in 2015 to provide philanthropic support to extraordinary scholars and writers for high-caliber research in the humanities and social sciences.
Reia, who also serves as a faculty co-lead at the UVA Digital Technology for Democracy Lab, is one of 26 fellowship winners in the Class of 2025 out of more than 300 nominees for the prestigious award. Recipients will receive stipends of $200,000 each for research that seeks to understand how and why our society has become so polarized and how we can strengthen the forces of cohesion to fortify our democracy.
The award is for a period of up to two years, and the anticipated result is generally a book or major study.
“Through these fellowships Carnegie is harnessing the unrivaled brainpower of our universities to help us to understand how our society has become so polarized,” said Carnegie President Dame Louise Richardson. “Our future grantmaking will be informed by what we learn from these scholars as we seek to mitigate the pernicious effects of political polarization.”
Reia’s project, “Building Bridges and Re-imagining Responses to Fight Anti-Trans Polarization in the U.S.,” will investigate the role of digital technologies — especially those relying on big data and artificial intelligence models — in the growing polarization around gender identity.
They will explore how on the one hand, media representation, legislative actions, and policy shape and reflect societal attitudes toward gender identity; on the other, they will research how gender minorities tell their stories, archive memories, and contribute to data collection initiatives that render them visible.
“We’re delighted to see Jess Reia honored with a Carnegie Fellowship, one of the nation’s most prestigious awards for scholars in the humanities and social sciences,” said Lori L. McMahon, Vice President for Research at the University of Virginia. “This is meaningful recognition of not only Jess' groundbreaking work, but also of the University’s commitment to research at the intersection of data and society that informs and strengthens democracy.”
Reia's studies have revolved around topics of data justice, urban governance, and technology policy transnationally. For the past decade, their research and advocacy agenda has focused on fostering dialogues between academia, government, and civil society in three countries: Brazil, Canada, and the United States. Reia's work has been published in four languages, including "Artificial Intelligence in the City: Building Civic Engagement and Public Trust" and "Smart Cities no Brasil," and next month will see the release of their newest book, "Urban Music Governance: What Busking Can Teach Us about Data, Policy and Our Cities."
"I'm absolutely thrilled and so proud of Jess for receiving this incredible honor," said Phil Bourne, the Stephenson Dean of the UVA School of Data Science. "It's a testament to the work they're doing, and brings great credit to the School of Data Science. It is what we aspire to do and be."
