Eric Giannella is an Associate Research Professor at the Georgetown Better Government Lab (BGL) and Massive Data Institute (MDI). At BGL, his research focuses on the implementation and delivery of safety net programs such as SNAP and Medicaid. At MDI, he is working on open source tools for reducing the risks and complexity of data sharing in public services. Previously, he was Senior Director of Data Science at Code for America (CfA), a nonprofit where he spent six years building capacity for data analysis, quantitative research, and rigorous experimentation. Eric was a key member of the team that raised $100M in Audacious funding that led to the formation of CfA's Safety Net Innovation Lab.
In the past few years, Eric has run field experiments across several topics in benefits access, such as the effects of providing chatbot suggestions about benefits rules to outreach workers, the impact of offering flexible interview times for SNAP, or how to improve ease and accuracy on income questions. Outside of research projects, he has led initiatives and advised government and nonprofit teams on research and analytics infrastructure, record linkage, data de-identification, and data governance.
Eric’s published research on applied topics has won several awards, including the American Journal of Public Health Best Paper Award and the Behavioral Science & Policy Best Paper Award. He has a Ph.D. in sociology from UC Berkeley, where he was an NSF Graduate Research Fellow and a UC Regents Intern Fellow. Before turning to research, Eric worked at small and large tech companies and received his B.A. and M.S. from Stanford University.
Academic Appointment(s)
- Primary
- Associate Research Professor, McCourt School of Public Policy