Team

The DEEP-MAPS Project uses current statistical tools to provide estimates of the impact of the current employment crisis on places and people. The model was developed by Yair Ghitza, Ph.D., and Chief Scientist at the national data company Catalist. A working paper, open code, modeled census tract level estimates, and this website have been created through work done together with Mark Steitz. These estimates will be updated monthly as new official unemployment figures are released.

DEEP-MAPS welcomes use and reprint of our research figures or chart. All reprints require proper accreditation to The DEEP-MAPS Project. Please let us know how you are using these by emailing .

Yair Ghitza

Yair Ghitza is the Chief Scientist at Catalist. He has been doing statistics work, mainly in public opinion and politics, for the past 15 years, with work in academia, as an expert witness in legal cases, and through Catalist on behalf of campaigns, research institutions, and other organizations. More information, including some of the media articles where his work has been cited, can be found here. Some of his main (peer-reviewed) work is specifically about projecting national surveys down to small local levels (i.e., the starting point for this project). See here and here, both done with Andrew Gelman at Columbia.

Yair has a Ph.D in Political Science from Columbia University and a BSE in Computer Science from the University of Michigan.

Mark Steitz

Mark Steitz is a Principal at TSD Communications and an Adjunct Professor at Columbia University where he teaches a course on the use of data and analytics in campaigns and advocacy. He has worked at the intersection of communications and data analysis since he was Communications Director at the DNC under Ron Brown in the early 90s. He began his career as an analyst at The Congressional Budget Office. He helped found Catalist and The Analyst Institute; he serves on the boards of both of them now.

Mark has an MA in Economics from Yale and a BA from St. Johns College of Annapolis.

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