Amanda Phillips de Lucas, Ph.D. is the Director for BNIA-JFI. Dr. Phillips de Lucas came to BNIA-JFI in 2023 from Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies. There she did a postdoctoral fellowship studying perceptions and governance of urban greening projects in cities across the United States. During her time at Cary Institute, Amanda built relationships with organizations, agencies, and individuals working to advance environmental justice in Baltimore.
In 2018, she received her Ph.D. in Science and Technology Studies from Virginia Tech. She also has degrees from Virginia Tech (MS), NYU Gallatin (MA) and Bennington College (BA). Her dissertation examined how activists and communities in Baltimore used data to protest urban interstate construction in the late 1960s and 1970s. This research was published as a chapter in Justice and the Interstates: The Racist Truth about Urban Highways (Island Press, 2023), co-edited by Dr. Phillips de Lucas. This work inspired a passion for understanding how communities use data to advocate for their needs and develop tools to advance community-defined goals.
Contact Amanda Phillips-De Lucas at (410) 837-5817 or email at [email protected]
Cheryl Knott (she/her) is the Assistant Director for BNIA-JFI. Since 2007, Cheryl has worked to ensure the accuracy, consistency, and reliability of BNIA-JFI’s community indicators that describe the quality of life for Baltimore City communities. In this role, she collaborates with internal staff and external data-producing agencies to develop and deliver statistical analyses, research reports, and program evaluations that inform policy and practice.
Cheryl is a strong advocate for data democratization and is committed to making data accessible and actionable for a wide range of audiences, including residents, students, researchers, and public sector professionals. She has led the development of multiple open data platforms to disseminate BNIA-JFI’s data, reports, and visualizations, and has partnered with the City of Baltimore to expand public access to data through the Open Baltimore portal. Her recent work includes the development of award-nominated data visualizations examining the intersection of housing affordability, housing voucher utilization, and demographic change; longitudinal and spatial analyses for the Baltimore Community Change 2010–2020 Project; spatial equity analyses of Capital Improvement Program (CIP) investments; and data support for the Perkins Homes Choice Neighborhoods Implementation Grant.
Cheryl holds a Bachelor of Arts in Geography and Environmental Systems, with a certificate in Cartography, from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, and a Master of Arts in Applied Sociology from the same institution, where her research focused on the quantitative relationship between crime and housing in Baltimore. She also holds a graduate certificate in Organizational Leadership from the University of Baltimore.
In 2017, Cheryl was awarded the University of Baltimore Staff Award for Extraordinary Public Service to the University and Greater Community for her work on communicating data and information. She previously served two terms as Chair of the Data and Resources Subcommittee for the Maryland State Geographic Information Committee (MSGIC) and is currently a Governor’s Appointee to Maryland Council on Open Data. She also serves as a part-time instructor in the Department of Geography and Environmental Systems at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, where she teaches upper-level and graduate courses in GIS, cartography, and open data.
Contact Cheryl Knott at (410) 837-4377 or e-mail at [email protected]
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Contact Dezzie Niemann at [email protected]
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Contact Zoe Rubinstein at [email protected]
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Contact Warner Brockman at [email protected]
Jabir Gaffar
Megan Schumacher