Katie Spoon (yes, like the utensil!) is a computational social scientist who investigates how inequalities shape access to and progression within careers, with particular attention to how these dynamics intersect with education and health. Her research leverages a wide range of data science and social science methods—including administrative, survey, network, and text analyses—to reveal large-scale patterns that are often invisible at smaller scales and to inform more equitable policy decisions.

In Fall 2025, she will join Stanford University as both a Data Science Fellow and a New Map of Life Fellow, working with Professors Mitchell Stevens and David Rehkopf to advance data science methods while addressing fundamental questions about how individuals transition through education and work over increasingly long life spans. Prior to her fellowship, Katie earned her Ph.D. in Computer Science at the University of Colorado Boulder (2025), where she was supported by an NSF Graduate Research Fellowship. During her PhD, she also received a Master’s in Education Policy, and spent time working as a Data Science Fellow at the U.S. Census Bureau and a Graduate Research Assistant in the National Center for Women & Technology. Prior to her PhD, she worked as a research engineer at IBM Research, and studied computer science at Indiana University–Bloomington (2019), where she developed an early-warning system to detect dyslexia in children’s handwriting. More about her research can be found at https://katiespoon.github.io/.