Our Team
We are a multi-disciplinary team of academics and students in law, data science, and social scientists that conducts research and disseminates data and reports on the Second Chance Gap in expungement and racial disparities in the California Criminal Justice System pursuant to the Racial Justice Act
Colleen Chien
Founder and Director
Colleen V. Chien is a Professor of Law at Berkeley Law School and co-director of the Berkeley Center for Law and Technology. She founded and directs the Paper Prisons Initiative. From 2013-2015 she served as White House Senior Advisor on Intellectual Property and Innovation and she currently serves in a part-time capacity as Marian Croak Distinguished Scholar at the USPTO.
Navid Shaghaghi
Project Manager
Navid Shaghaghi is a lecturer and researcher in the department of Mathematics and Computer Science (MCS) of the College of Arts and Sciences, the departments of Computer Science & Engineering (CSEN) and Bioengineering (BIOE) of the School of Engineering, and the department of Information Systems and Analytics (ISA) of the School of Business at Santa Clara University.
Faculty and Advisors
Hithesh Bathala
Advisor
Hithesh Sekhar is a software development engineer at Amazon, an Information Systems M.S. graduate, and alum of the Paper Prisons team who continues to support the project.
Jessica Jackson
Special Advisor
Jessica Jackson is an American human rights attorney and Chief Advocacy Officer at REFORM Alliance. She is also the co-founder of #cut50, a national bipartisan effort aimed at reducing America's incarceration rate. She served as the youngest mayor of the city of Mill Valley.
Ellen Kreitzberg
Faculty Advisor
Ellen Kreitzerg is a Emeritus Professor of Law Santa Clara University, and renowned expert on death penalty abolition research and advocacy.
Adam Osmond
Advisor
Adam Osmond, an accountant and data analyst, has spent years collecting and analyzing large public data including criminal data from Connecticut spanning decades. He is passionate about criminal justice reform, as he has witnessed the lasting impact convictions have on the livelihoods of others.
William Sundstrom
Faculty Advisor
Dr. William Sundstrom is the Stephen and Patricia Schott Professor of Economics at the Leavey School of Business at Santa Clara University. His research interests include poverty and inequality, the economic history of labor markets, education and related institutions, and the economics of race and gender.
David Ball
Advisor
David Ball is a Professor of Law at Santa Clara Law and a leading cirminal justice scholar. He is currently Co-Chair of the Corrections Committe of the ABA's Criminal Jutice Section and has been an actor, filmaker, and Rhodes scholar.
Robert Apel
Advisor
Dr. Robert Apel is a criminologist and Professor at Rutgers University-Newark whose research focuses on the intersection of crime, the justice system, and the labor market.
Jiayu Zhao
Advisor
Jiayu Zhao is a Senior Behavioral Researcher at Duke University’s Center for Advanced Hindsight. Her research interest is to model, explain, and predict decision-making in complex systems and with information feedback delays.
Matthew Stubenberg
Advisor
Matthew Stubenberg is an Innovator in Residence at William S. Richardson School of Law and formerly worked as a researcher at Harvard Law School's Access to Justice Lab. He also created the MDExpungement.com website which has generated over 100,000 petitions for expungement.
Law Team
Rachel Nghe
Law Student
Rachel is a third year law student at Santa Clara Law. Prior to law school, she worked at the Department of Justice Antitrust Division and at Dropbox as a legal analyst. She has committed her time in school and in her career to DEI and social justice initiatives. She aims to use her legal, technology, and social sector experience to continue to serve minorities and those in need in her community.
Alyssa Aguilar
Law Alumini
Alyssa is a graduate student from Santa Clara Law. She was the Co-President of the school's Internet Law Student Organization and EQSCU, the school's LGBTQIA+ student organization. She is passionate about the intersection of technology and social justice and believes our criminal justice system should be accessible and barrier free for all.
Jenny Stukenberg
Law Student
Jenny is a law student at Berkeley Law. Prior to Law School, Jenny had a career in Data Science and spent many years volunteering at immigration non-profits. Jenny is interested in economic justice issues and plans to pursue a career enacting consumer-friendly legislation in California.
Rayna Sharon
Law Student
Rayna Saron is a third-year J.D. student at Berkeley Law. She has a background in interdisciplinary research with a focus on implicit racial bias in the criminal legal system. She graduated from the University of California, Berkeley with degrees in Legal Studies and Cognitive Science.
Bennett Cyphers
Law Student
Bennett Cyphers is a 2nd year law student at Berkeley and a part-time law clerk at the Contra Costa Public Defender's Office. Before that, he was a staff technologist at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, where he investigated ad tech and government surveillance.
Technology Team: Data Science
Varun Gujarathi
Graduate Student: CSEN
Varun is a CS graduate student at Santa Clara University. He is an excellent problem solver, interested in building great tech and helping the community with his engineering skills. He loves to play table tennis.
Rutuja Pathade
Graduate Student: MIS
Rutuja is interested in contributing to the community with insights that data brings.
Rohit Rathish
Graduate Alumni: CSEN
Rohit is a Computer Science graduate with skills in Data Analytics and Web development.
Shaunak Chaudhary
Graduate Student: CSEN
Shaunak is passionate about applying his technical as well as entrepreneurial skills to develop innovative solutions that can positively impact society.
Shubham Shinde
Graduate Alumni: CSEN
Shubham is passionate about creating cutting-edge AI solutions, he offers a strong technical skill set and a dedicated approach to deliver exceptional results for all projects.
Seraphima Kassianik
Undergraduate Student: CSEN
Sima is a junior studying CS at UC Berkeley.
Technology Team: Website and Tools
Ju Young Park
Law Student
Ju Park is a 3rd year Part-Time Law student at Santa Clara University. She is also a UX engineer at Google, focused on front-end development.
Max Calcoen
Highschool Fellow
Max is a high school student who is passionate about how technology can promote social justice. He currently attends Head-Royce School in Oakland as a junior.
Nathan Hoffman
Law Student
Nathan is a part time JD candidate with a background in tech who hopes to some day contribute positively to his community via the intersection of law and tech.
Yabo Du
Engineer
Yabo has more than 10 years of experience working in software development & project management. He is focusing on high performance distribution systems, large-scale data processing and Web3 technologies. Yabo also loves SUP, pickle ball and swimming.
Akhil Raj
Graduate Alumni: CSEN
Akhil is a CS alumnus from Santa Clara University.
Varun Gujarathi
Graduate Student: CSEN
Varun is a CS graduate student at Santa Clara University. He is an excellent problem solver, interested in building great tech and helping the community with his engineering skills. He loves to play table tennis.
Seraphima Kassianik
Undergraduate Student: CSEN
Sima is a junior studying CS at UC Berkeley.