About us
Rigorous research. Practical tools for human services.
Social Data Analytics
Putting the right facts in the right hands at the right time.
Social Data Analytics (SDA) develops advanced analytics and decision-support tools for human services agencies working with children, families and people experiencing homelessness.
Founded by Professors Emily Putnam-Hornstein and Rhema Vaithianathan, SDA builds on more than a decade of published research and collaboration with government partners. Our focus is practical: making better use of information agencies already hold, supporting professional judgment and evaluating whether tools improve outcomes.
Leadership
Our co-founders
Emily Putnam-Hornstein
Co-founder · Child Welfare
Emily Putnam-Hornstein began her career as a child protection worker in New York City. She is now a professor whose work uses linked administrative records to study child maltreatment, system involvement and child safety outcomes.
Her research has helped establish how routinely collected human services data can inform decisions in child protection. She has worked closely with agencies to develop and evaluate tools that support frontline practice, including the original Allegheny Family Screening Tool.
Rhema Vaithianathan
Co-founder · Economics and advanced analytics
Rhema Vaithianathan is an economist whose research focuses on applying advanced analytics to complex decisions in human services.
Her work applies economics, statistical modelling and data science to questions facing human services. She has led research on predictive risk modelling in child welfare and the use of administrative data to support decision-making in child protection, mental health and homelessness systems.
Contracts and partnerships
Larissa Lorimer
Contracts Manager
Larissa Lorimer supports SDA's relationships with human services agencies, coordinating contracts and the practical arrangements that help partners move from initial discussions to implementation.