Francine Stephens

Francine Stephens is a Ph.D. candidate in Sociology at Stanford University. She studies what makes parks vibrant public spaces that attract urban residents. Her dissertation research is focused on how the neighborhood demographics of parks influence the amount of foot-traffic in parks and where park visitors are coming from within the city. In her research, she uses multiple types of spatial data – census, land parcels, Smartphone GPS data, and satellite imagery – and applies statistical and spatial analysis methods. Her research is motivated by a passion for using data to address applied geographic problems from facility siting to resource allocation.

Prior to pursuing her Ph.D., she earned her B.A. in Sociology at the University of Pennsylvania. She has also held research positions at the Consortium for Policy Research in Education and NORC at the University of Chicago. Most recently, she served as the GIS/Spatial Data Analyst for the Texas Democratic Party during the 2020 general election cycle.

Learn more about her work by visiting her GitHub page. To discuss her work or an interest in collaborating contact her via email.