Jae Yeon Kim

Jae Yeon Kim

Assistant Professor of Public Policy
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

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My research aims to make policy implementation work.

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      Hello! I am Jae.

      I am an Assistant Professor of Public Policy at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, a fellow at the Civic Power Lab at the Harvard Kennedy School and a Better Government Lab Fellow at the University of Michigan’s Ford School of Public Policy. I co-founded the Data for Good Roundtables and the Administrative Politics Network.

      In Spring 2027, I will be on research leave and visiting UC Berkeley’s Berkeley Economy & Society Initiative.

      Previously, I worked as a Senior Data Scientist at Code for America, where I collaborated with the U.S. government to improve access to safety net programs. I also served as an Assistant Research Scientist at the SNF Agora Institute at Johns Hopkins University, where I co-developed the Mapping the Modern Agora Project. I earned my Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of California, Berkeley.

      I am a policy scholar and public interest data scientist. Combining my experience as a data scientist in the U.S. public sector with my training as a social scientist, I study policy implementation, government capacity, and technological change. Specifically, my research examines how government can help people navigate bureaucracy, strengthen public trust, and buy and use technology, including but not limited to AI systems, effectively and responsibly.

      I’m currently finishing a book manuscript (monograph) titled Unseen and Uncounted, which examines how the administrative challenges of identifying and categorizing non-Black minority communities gave rise to new racial group formations during the War on Poverty. My second book project, tentatively titled Burdens, Profits, and People Power, investigates how AI exacerbates existing inequalities through administrative burdens, what kinds of businesses profit from these hidden practices, and how people can build power, resist, and transform this unjust system.

      My research has appeared in leading journals across public policy and the social sciences. To produce research that directly informs policy and improves practice, I often collaborate with government, philanthropic, think tank, and nonprofit partners. My research has helped U.S. state and local governments deliver public services, procure AI systems, and train government officials; foundations distribute grants for public benefit innovation and civic engagement; think tanks set agendas on responsible AI governance; and nonprofits develop their research and evaluation capacity.

      I am the recipient of the Sherman Family Emerging Scholar Award, The Korea Society (2026), the Paul Volcker Junior Scholar Research Grant Award in Public Administration (2025), the Emerging Scholar Award in Civic Engagement (2024), and the Best Dissertation Award in Urban and Local Politics (2022) from the American Political Science Association, as well as the Don T. Nakanishi Award for Distinguished Scholarship and Service in Asian Pacific American Politics (2020) from the Western Political Science Association.

      Note🎓 For Prospective PhD and UNC Students

      PhD Students: I will not be taking students in the coming cycle (starting in Fall 2027). If you are interested in working with me, please read my advice for prospective PhD students. If you then choose to email me, please explain (1) which of my work you have read, (2) why it is connected to your research agenda, and (3) how I can help you develop it. I look forward to working with self-motivated, intellectually curious students who are passionate about policy problems and eager to learn how to translate them into theoretical questions and test them empirically.

      UNC graduate and undergraduate students: I cannot serve on your committee or advise on your honors thesis unless I know you well and there is a strong alignment between your topic and my research expertise. That said, if you think you could benefit from my expertise, please reach out to me by email and schedule a time during my office hours.

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