Community Data Clinic

Graduate Assistant, Tech Buddy Coordinator

Kainen Bell

Kainen Bell is a first-year Doctoral Student in Information Sciences and previously worked for a community-based nonprofit organization in Brazil. In 2018 Kainen completed a Fulbright Research Fellowship, where he studied strategies that communities and nonprofits in Brazil developed to maintain financial sustainability during the economic recession. Prior to his fellowship, Kainen graduated with an MSW from Columbia University and received dual degrees in Business and Social Work from the University of Washington. His research interests include; Computing for Social Good, Data Ethics & Social Justice, Community-based research practices, and reducing the digital divide for historically marginalized populations in Brazil and the US. Kainen is a 2021 University of Illinois Graduate College Fellowship recipient, as well as a Foreign Language Areas Studies (FLAS) and Summer Pre-doctoral Institute Fellow. In his spare time, he enjoys dancing Salsa and Bachata, playing sports, and indoor roller skating.