Aekta Shah

Aekta Shah is a Data Science, Human-Centered Design, and Participatory Tech Specialist.  She is the Co-Founder of the participatory technology tool Streetwyze, and has studied, taught, and worked to engage diverse communities in authentic ways for over 15 years.  She is an experienced UXR and Data Science leader who strives to advance innovative methods and tools to understand users’ needs, behaviors, and emotions, and gather new insights that can inform product strategy and design. She has led UX design teams in a variety of product spaces in partnership with Google Street View, Kaiser, Blue Cross Blue Shield, and with some of the leading creative design firms in the country.

Aekta’s overall areas of expertise include research related to User-Centered Design, Big Data, Real-time Data, Health Tech, inter/multi-disciplinary projects, mixed methods, and participatory user-engagement methods. Aekta recently completed her Ph.D. at Stanford University where she was the recipient of the prestigious Stanford Graduate Fellowship. At Stanford her research and work ranged from running Design-thinking workshops with the Stanford d.school, to collaborating on projects with the Stanford School of Medicine, to advancing new social impact technologies at the Stanford Graduate School of Business. She has been recognized for her leadership by President Obama, Knight, Rockefeller, the Atlantic’s CityLab, The Root, Aspen Institute, and more, and has presented for the UN internationally. Aekta holds Masters from Harvard and a B.A. from Dartmouth College.