Amanda Pierson

Amanda is a Ph.D. student at the University of Arizona School of Sociology. Her research interests include Big Data governance, sociology of science, and social science methodologies. Specifically, her research examines how individuals relate to the data they produce and consume, as well as how data collection, storage, and analytic processes affect governance, particularly with regards to surveillance and privacy.

Amanda is the recipient of the 2019 George Washington University Philip J. Amsterdam Graduate Teaching Award and was nominated for a graduate mentoring award by the Columbian College of Arts and Sciences in 2022. She has been nominated for two Secretary of Homeland Security Awards for her work championing diversity efforts and improving data processes at the Secret Service. In 2022, Amanda received the United States Secret Service Director's Award for her work on improving data access and visualization for the agency. Amanda received her B.A. in criminal justice with a minor in statistics and her M.A. in criminology from The George Washington University.