Our Team

We are a multi-disciplinary team of students, lawyers, data scientists, and social scientists, including several systems-impacted leaders, that conducts research to measure, study, and raise awareness of the Second Chance Gap.

Colleen Chien

Founder and Director

Colleen V. Chien is a Professor of Law, empirical researcher, and founder and director of the Paper Prisons Initiative. From 2013-2015 she served as White House Senior Advisor on Intellectual Property and Innovation and she currently serves as a part-time Senior Counselor to the Department of Commerce Office of General Counsel.

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 Community Experts

Ellen Kreitzberg

Faculty Advisor

Ellen Kreitzerg is a Professor of Law Santa Clara University, and renowned expert on death penalty abolition research and advocacy.

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.

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.

Antonio Reza

Advisor

Antonio Reza is a law student at Santa Clara University School of Law, the student President of the National Justice Impacted Bar Association, and the Northern California student representative for the California System Involved Bar Association. He is extremely passionate about criminal justice reform and is also formerly incarcerated.

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.

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.

Matthew Stubenberg

Advisor

Matthew Stubenberg is 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.

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.

Sharine Xuan

Advisor

Sharine graduated from Santa Clara Law in 2021 with honors. She is the founder and executive director of Elevate Community Center, a Santa Clara County legal aid organization that aims to promote financial stability and self-sufficiency in historically underserved communities.

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.

Jenna Clark

Advisor

Dr. Jenna Clark is a Senior Behavioral Researcher at Duke University’s Center for Advanced Hindsight. She studies how to help people lead happier and healthier lives through behavioral interventions that respect their lived experiences and autonomy.

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.

Sam Sinyangwe

Advisor

Samuel Sinyangwe, data scientist, is the founder of Mapping Police Violence and the Police Scorecard, where he uses data to address police violence and mass incarceration.

Sonya Chalaka

Advisor

Sonya Chalaka is a graduate of Santa Clara Law and conducts policy research for the PPP. She previously worked as a student associate for the Northern California Innocence Project (NCIP) and clerked with the SCC District Attorney's Office. Sonya is passionate about equity and access policy reform.

Law Team

Obie Reynolds

Law Student

Obie is a former renewable energy chemical engineer, environmental remediation database administrator, vegan meat and cheese producer, and farmer interested in using data analysis to support worthwhile causes.

Ahmanda Lee

Law Student

Ahmanda Lee is a student at Santa Clara University School of Law and previously was a law clerk for the Santa Clara District Attorney's Office. She believes both justice and human empathy can coexist despite their seemingly antagonistic nature towards one another.

Isabella Ang

Paper Prisons Fellow and Law student

Isabella is an student at Brigham Young University Law School who has spent the last 12 years on both the giving and receiving end of social justice advocacy. Her experiences as a justice-impacted individual has allowed her to develop her passion for law and become an advocate for individuals found on the periphery.

Hubeyb Kabulantok

Law Student

Hubeyb is a law student at Santa Clara University Law School and has a background in Political Science.

Alyssa Aguilar

Law Student

Alyssa is a third year law student at Santa Clara Law. She is 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.

Rachel Nghe

Law Student

Rachel is a second 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.

Technology Team: Data Science

Chhavi Garg

Graduate Student: MIS

Chhavi is interested in data analytics and using it to make an impact in the world.

Varun Gujarathi

Graduate Student: CSEN

Varun is interested in building great tech in general and helping the community with his engineering skills.

Rutuja Pathade

Graduate Student: MIS

Rutuja is interested in contributing to the community with insights that data brings.

Technology Team: Website and Tools

Amy Allshouse

Law Student

Amy Allshouse is a student at Santa Clara University School of Law. She has an MA in Linguistics and is a Digital Marketing expert. She is passionate about criminal justice reform.

Ju Young Park

Law Student

Ju Park is a 2nd 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.

Ekam Singh

Undergraduate Student: CSEN

Ekam Singh is a student at Santa Clara University, pursing a degree in computer science and engineering. He is planning on working as a software engineer in the future, and enjoys traveling.

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.

Vivian Li

Computer Scientist

Vivian is a product designer who has spend her career designing for fintech apps and tools. She's a non-student volunteer contributing her design and research skills to the ID tool.

Past Members