Jin Ai, PhD

Jin Ai is a Postdoctoral Fellow at the School of Social Policy and Practice, specializing in the nexus of nonprofit leadership and data science. Jin studies how emerging technologies (i.e., artificial intelligence), civic engagement, and public/philanthropic funding come together to drive innovation in science, technology, and society. Her work uncovers hidden patterns of government and civil society innovation systems, using large datasets and computational modeling, such as machine learning and natural language processing, to inform smarter, more responsible science, technology, and innovation (STI) policy and funding strategies. Her research has been published in leading peer-reviewed journals, including Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly, Administration & Society, and Computation. Aligned with her research interests, her teaching focuses on building data and AI literacy through the lens of evidence-based reasoning. At Penn SP2, she currently teaches AI and Emerging Technologies for Nonprofits (AI4NPO)—a course she independently designed to help bridge the gap between artificial intelligence technologies and nonprofit leadership and practice. She also has extensive teaching experience in topics such as data for the public good and digital civil society at Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy, where she earned her Ph.D.