School of Humanities and Sciences
Showing 1-34 of 34 Results
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Amanda Bensel
Practitioner Programs Manager, Ethics In Society
Staff, Ethics In SocietyBioAmanda works as Practitioner Programs Manager at the McCoy Family Center for Ethics in Society where she helps manage courses exploring ethical questions in the technology sector for professionals from across the world. Formerly, she ran leadership development programs for an INGO called the Asia Foundation, advancing grassroots leaders from across Asia through tailored study tours and reflective leadership frameworks. Her professional background spans international development, environmental policy, youth instruction, urban planning and the creative arts. Amanda lived and worked in Nepal for four years, first as a Peace Corps Volunteer and later to lead graduate student field research and research social enterprises. She is a volunteer judge for UC Berkeley's Annual Big Ideas contest, a student innovation competition; is part of the Skyline Garden Alliance, a native plant restoration group in the east bay hills; sits at the Oakland Photo Workshop, a community run galley for the East Bay Photographers Collective; and pursues independent documentary photography and film projects. Every summer she teaches visual art at a youth summer camp for kids in the Sierra Nevadas. She holds a BA in Architecture with a minor in City Planning from the University of California Berkeley, a MA in International Environmental Policy from the Middlebury Institute of International Studies, and a masterclass certificate for “Visual Storytelling in New Media” from the International Center of Photography. She's an avid cyclist, hiker, artist and vipassana mediator.
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Jesse DeRose
Masters Student in Management Science and Engineering, admitted Autumn 2024
Hourly Student Employee- Practitioner Course Program, Ethics In SocietyBioHow can work balance profit and social impact? What if employees were intrinsically motivated to show up every day?
I help leaders answer these questions because we all deserve purposeful work. Whether that’s cultivating emotional intelligence, fostering psychological safety, or removing process friction, healthy work is proven to increase productivity, creativity, and decision-making.
Combining industry research with a decade of experience building digital transformation programs, I help my clients build human-centered solutions that align their people, processes, and technology to make data-driven business decisions. -
Louie Ortiz
Research - Post-Bacc, Ethics In Society
BioLouie is a Research Associate in the Technology Ethics & Policy Rising Scholars Program at the McCoy Family Center for Ethics in Society. Louie works with the Embedded Ethics team to weave ethical reflection into the core computer science courses at Stanford, investigating its effectiveness. He is particularly interested in how institutional frameworks shape underrepresented students’ engagement with ethical reflection in technology, and how research can inform more inclusive approaches to technical education across academic spaces. Louie is a first-generation graduate from UC Berkeley, where he received his bachelor's degree in Data Science with a concentration in Philosophy.
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Juan N. Pava
Research - Post-Bacc, Ethics In Society
BioJuan N. Pava is a Research Fellow at the Stanford Institute for Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence (HAI), where his work focuses on AI governance, digital inclusion, and the political economy of emerging technologies, particularly in the Global South. His research examines how institutions can more equitably govern technological development, with current projects spanning low-resource languages, language digitization, AI sovereignty, and accessibility.
At Stanford HAI, Juan has contributed to research and institutional initiatives at the intersection of technology and social impact, including educational programming for civil society leaders and collaborative projects on inclusive AI development. He is also a Research Assistant at Stanford’s Human Trafficking Data Lab, where he co-authors research on legal and statistical frameworks surrounding labor exploitation and human trafficking.
Juan holds a B.A. in Philosophy and Economics from New York University and will begin the Master’s in International Policy program at Stanford University in 2026. Born and raised in Colombia, his broader interests lie in political economy, international development, and the application of normative political theory to institutional design and governance. -
Adam Spitzig
Ph.D. Student in Environment and Resources, admitted Autumn 2024
Student Worker, Ethics In SocietyBioAdam Spitzig is a PhD candidate in Environment and Resources (E-IPER) at Stanford University’s Doerr School of Sustainability. He is a historical ecologist and data scientist whose research examines long-term biodiversity dynamics and their human drivers.
His work integrates paleoecological data (especially fossil pollen records), archaeological and historical sources, geospatial analysis, and statistical modeling to understand when and how human societies have increased, maintained, or reduced biodiversity. He is particularly interested in identifying cases of sustained anthropogenic biodiversity expansion and examining the institutional, economic, infrastructural, and land-use processes that produced them. His work also explores how long-term ecological knowledge can inform contemporary conservation and restoration strategy.
Before beginning his PhD, he led ecological modeling and machine learning initiatives in conservation and technology organizations, including Ducks Unlimited and several data-driven startups.
He holds a Master in Public Administration from Harvard University, a Master of Information & Data Science from UC Berkeley, a Master of Environmental Management and a Juris Doctor from Duke University, and a BA from the University of Florida.
