Sarah Williams is an Associate Professor of Technology and Urban Planning at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) where she is also Director of the Civic Data Design Lab and the Leventhal Center for Advanced Urbanism. Williams’ combines her training in computation and design to create communication strategies that expose urban policy issues to broad audiences and create civic change. She calls the process Data Action, the name of her recent book published by MIT Press. Williams is co-founder and developer of Envelope.city, a web-based software product that visualizes and allows users to modify zoning in New York City. Before coming to MIT, Williams was Co-Director of the Spatial Information Design Lab at Columbia University’s Graduate School of Architecture Planning and Preservation (GSAPP). Her design work has been widely exhibited, including work in the Guggenheim, the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), Venice Biennale, and the Cooper Hewitt Museum. Williams has won numerous awards, including being named one of the top 25 technology planners, Game Changer by Metropolis Magazine, and most recently won an Anthem Award for the best use of data in the humanitarian sector. Her latest exhibition at the Venice Biennale, Distance Uknown, explores the risks and opportunities of migration to the Americas and helped to influence recent US migration policies. She has also just released a tool with Transportation Alternatives called Spatial Equity NYC.