Biography
Founder, Commons Lab. Co-Founder, Fed Community of Practice on Crowdsourcing & Citizen Science. GIS & remote sensing, University of Wisconsin
Trained as a geospatial data scientist and policy expert, her research has focused on improving government services and empowering communities through open and participatory innovation, new technologies and social media. Previously, she directed the Commons Lab of the Science and Technology Innovation Program at the Wilson Center. She is one of the chief organizers and co-founders of the Federal Community of Practice on Crowdsourcing and Citizen Science, a groundbreaking effort to enable federal agencies to engage the public in collective problem solving. In 2009, Lea was an AAAS Congressional Science Fellow in the U.S. Senate, crafting legislation on satellite Earth observations, oceans, and hazards. Lea also helped launch the new Citizen Science Association and Wisconsin Geographic Information Coordination Council. She conducted her PhD research in Environmental Monitoring at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and holds an MS in astronomy and BS in physics.
