Emily Jacobson is a Research Associate at the Possibility Lab where she leads research on housing and land use policy for the Lab’s Abundance Accelerator initiative. Previously, she was the inaugural Research Fellow at the California YIMBY Education Fund and studied land use entitlement in Los Angeles and policies to advance housing affordability across California.

Emily is passionate about using data to develop equitable public policies and strengthen governance—an interest she cultivated while supporting evaluations of international development projects as a research analyst at NORC at the University of Chicago. Emily holds a Master of Public Policy from the Goldman School of Public Policy at UC Berkeley and a B.A. in Political Science and Sociology from Rice University.

Outside of work, Emily enjoys watching classic movies, shopping at Berkeley Bowl, and always coming in second place at trivia. A proud Texas native, she has chosen to prioritize having access to public transit and good weather over BBQ and breakfast tacos (for now).