Ben Keel
Having worked many years as an experiential graphic designer, I came to Philly to study data visualization, housing policy, spatial analysis at the University of Pennylvania's Masters of Urban Spatial Analytics (MUSA) program and make a more specific public impact. I was inspired to make this shift after volunteering for housing initiatives in DC and visualizing affordable housing developments in Brooklyn, NY. Those years of designing infographics and talking about housing with my community shaped my passion to advocate for affordability wherever I live.
This year, I was most excited to learn more about Javascript and R, two essential tools for policy analysis and communication. Equally rewarding was the Practicum class experience, where I had the opportunity to support the Philadelphia Fire Department by researching and forecasting the social impacts of structure fires. I’m also grateful to have a more solid foundation of housing policy knowledge now, and will be looking to combine it with my design and technical expertise wherever I end up next.
This year, I was most excited to learn more about Javascript and R, two essential tools for policy analysis and communication. Equally rewarding was the Practicum class experience, where I had the opportunity to support the Philadelphia Fire Department by researching and forecasting the social impacts of structure fires. I’m also grateful to have a more solid foundation of housing policy knowledge now, and will be looking to combine it with my design and technical expertise wherever I end up next.
