Vera Institute of Justice

Neil Agarwal is the principal data scientist for Vera's Advancing Universal Representation (UREP) initiative, leading data science research, engineering, and analysis on legal representation in immigration court. In his role, Neil develops a variety of tools and algorithmic approaches for working with large administrative data sets in support of UREP’s nationwide campaigns, federal and local advocacy, and broad initiative goals.

Before joining Vera in 2021, Neil was a Mellon Visiting Assistant Professor at the University of California, Davis, where he taught graduate and undergraduate seminars and co-organized a university-wide interdisciplinary initiative on racial capitalism. He previously spent six years working with big data sets in financial markets.

Originally from upstate New York, Neil enjoys riding Amtrak's Empire Line and can usually be found in the café car.

Neil holds a BA in mathematics and computer science from Harvard College and a PhD in cultural anthropology from the CUNY Graduate Center.