Teresa Chen

Teresa Chen

Topol Fellow
Teresa Chen

Teresa Chen is a joint Master in Public Policy and Master of Business Administration student at Harvard Kennedy School and Stanford Graduate School of Business. She represents the Kennedy School on the Harvard Graduate Council’s External Advocacy Committee and serves on the Editorial Board of the student publication Progressive Policy Review.

Prior to her graduate studies, Teresa was the Business Leader of Data Science at Nielsen’s San Francisco office, where she advised digital and traditional media companies on demographic trends and transformations. In addition to her work with U.S. media companies, Teresa led Nielsen’s on-the-ground projects in Jakarta, Indonesia and Mexico City, Mexico. An industrial engineer by training, Teresa began her career as an internal consultant at United Airlines in Chicago, where she worked on the post-merger integration with Continental Airlines. Teresa holds a B.S. in Industrial Engineering and Management Sciences from Northwestern University’s School of Engineering and Applied Science.

As a Topol Fellow, Teresa's research aims to leverage her experience as a data scientist and demographer to both add to the research and to amplify people’s trust in the enduring power and effectiveness of nonviolent resistance—with or despite technology. She is interested in the intersection of technology and public policy with a focus on misinformation, civic engagement, and artificial intelligence through an equity lens.