About Me

photo via watoto

I've moved to jkgoldst.tumblr.com!

I’m a PhD candidate at Princeton’s School of Public and International Affairs. I’m passionate about using technology to help governments in emerging economies become more effective and inclusive, particularly in the provision of health care, education and broadband internet. 

Tech & Policy Entrepreneurship

I get my energy from designing and implementing participatory, decentralized and agile solutions to hard civic problems. Some of my favorite experiences have been working for Google to bring more and cheaper broadband to Africa, helping Stanford’s d.school re-imagine their executive design thinking bootcamp for Jamaica’s Ministry of Agriculture, and advising Duma, a company that helps informal workers find jobs through their mobile phones (I’m also an investor). I helped launch Code for Kenya, a bid to bring Nairobi’s formidable tech talent to bear on health, water and education issues, and co-founded Apps4Africa, an early civic tech challenge lauded by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

Writing

My current project explores what happens when public service providers in emerging economies adopt data-driven and participatory governance systems. I use statistics and field work to understand how these systems change management strategies, and why some systems are robust, a computer science term referring to the ability of a system to perform well not only under ordinary conditions but also under conditions that test its designers’ assumptions. I also do some policy writing, in academic journals like UCLA Law Review Discourse and on websites like Stanford Social Innovation Review. 

Trail Running

I love to run on trails. I blame this mostly on Alex. Some of my most memorable races include the Courmeyer-Champex-Chamonix (CCC), which partially circumnavigates le trail du Mont-Blanc, the Burning Man Ultra-Marathon, and the Ultra Race of Champions (UROC) in its previous incarnation in the Blue Ridge Mountains.