About

Dana Bullister is a PhD Student in Interdisciplinary Design and Media at Northeastern’s College of Arts, Media, and Design. She is interested in combining data visualization, systems design, and communication technologies to explore tools supporting more intelligent, equitable, transparent, and efficient outcomes in policy.

She has previously worked as a multinationally award-winning data scientist, technology startup founder, analytics product manager, and data visualization designer in the civic technology space. She received her bachelor’s in computer science and cognitive science from Wellesley College, where she researched the influence of misinformation in online political discourse using unique coding methods. She earned an MS in information design and data visualization from Northeastern University as well as a MicroMasters certificate in data, economics, and development policy from MITx. In 2021, she ran for City Council in Cambridge, MA, where she shed light on strategies for mitigating political inequity and better channeling collective community insights.

In addition to her work at the Burnes Center for Social Change, she works with Dr. Brooke Foucault Welles of the Communication Media and Marginalization Lab and Dr. Nabeel Gillani of the Plural Connections Group on work exploring the role of technology in spreading fringe conversations as well as strategies for advancing pluralism through educational, economic, and social well-being. She is excited to explore enriching our toolsets for collective decision making, re-examining balance of influence in policy development, and better leveraging distributed community insights to result in more intelligent, timely, and positively impactful social outcomes.