Dr. Revati Prasad is the Benton Institute's Executive Director. Dr. Caroline Stratton is Research Director. Caroline leads Benton's research efforts and helps develop resources and strategies any state or community can use to bring broadband to everyone. They recruit and manage diverse cohorts of fellows—researchers, advocates, and practitioners—and their projects:

• Dr. Jesse Andrews, Postdoctoral Researcher, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, (2025-2026 fellow), examines the relationship between inland flood risk and broadband access among households in vulnerable communities in Nebraska. 
• Greta Byrum, Principal for HR&A Advisors, (2024-2025), focuses on online safety, privacy, and well-being, developing strategic guidance for how state digital equity plans can help new and historically marginalized users navigate the internet safely. Learn more about Building Safety into Digital Inclusion Efforts: Risks and Opportunities in the Digital Equity Act here. 
• Dr. Pierrette Renee Dagg, Director of Research, Merit Network/University of Michigan, (2023-2024), investigates the role Michigan’s community champions play in community connectivity solutions, and what factors allow these leaders to succeed. Learn more about Could It Be Me? Should It Be Me? Understanding What Makes Broadband Champions here.
• Norma Fernandez, CEO, Everyone On, (2023-2024), researches the barriers to adoption, particularly for low-income women of color, to ensure that that digital equity planning efforts and broadband policy center the voices of underrepresented and marginalized groups. Learn more about From Fear to Confidence: The Digital Skills Journey of Underserved Women here.
• Dr. Arpit Gupta, Assistant Professor of Computer Science, University of California Santa Barbara, (2025-2026), and his team address issues of broadband data transparency and accountability through the Broadband Querying Tool (BQT), which extracts and analyzes data on broadband availability, speeds, affordability, and adoption at the street-address level. 
• Esther Jang, PhD Candidate in Computer Science, University of Washington, (2024-2025), documents the Seattle Community Network (SCN) as a “teaching and learning network” and a sustainable model for community internet access. Learn more about Jang’s project here.
• Dr. Yeweon Kim, Postdoctoral Research Associate, University of Maryland College of Information, (2025-2026), focuses on Community Anchor Institutions across Maryland, assessing their strengths and structural barriers in delivering sustainable, community-driven solutions to advance digital inclusion. 
• Sharayah Lane, Senior Advisor for Indigenous Community Connectivity, Internet Society, (2024-2025), examines how states worked with Tribal Nations. She analyzes states’ outreach, planning, and coordination activities in the Effective Engagement Scale. Learn more about The Effective Engagement Scale: Measuring How States and Tribes Are Collaborating in the BEAD Program here.
• Dr. Erezi Ogbo, Assistant Professor in Information Science, North Carolina Central University, (2023-2024), works on a study that uses data from the National Health Interview Survey to examine the impacts of broadband access on health care and the health needs of various demographic groups.
• Dr. Pawel Popiel and Dr. David Elliot Berman, Postdoctoral Researchers, Annenberg School for Communications, University of Pennsylvania, (2024-2025), examine the implementation and impact of subsidized broadband programs in Philadelphia, focusing on the work of digital navigators. Learn more about Popiel’s and Berman’s project here.
• Dr. Jorge A. Rodriguez, MD, a clinician-investigator at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Assistant Professor, Harvard Medical School, (2023-2024), creates a playbook for digital navigation in health care. Learn more about the Digital Access Coordinator Program Playbook: Digital Navigation in Healthcare here.
• Sara Raza, Senior Clinical Fellow, Center for Health Law and Policy Innovation, Harvard Law School (2025-2026) explores how policy and legal frameworks help—or hinder—efforts to close the broadband health gap, especially in rural areas. 
• Dave Seliger, Chief Digital Equity Officer, New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development, (2023-2024), makes a microsite of resources for the Neighborhood Tech Help Program, as part of the Liberty Link pilot internet network. NTHP is available to 2,200 households in 35 affordable housing communities in the Bronx and Upper Manhattan.
• Monique Tate, Co-Director of Community Tech NY, (2024-2025), identifies lessons from the Community Tech Lab as an organizing space to build digital equity. Learn more about Tate’s project here.
• Kyla Williams Tate, Director of Digital Equity, Cook County (IL) Office of the President, (2024-2025), studies the relationship between trust, digital discrimination, and digital adoption among the descendants of the Great Migration in Chicago. Learn more about Tate’s project here.

*Fellows’ titles and institutions are at the time Benton awarded the fellowship.

The scale and scope of public investment to reach universal connectivity and digital opportunity naturally highlights gaps in knowledge and capacity.  Benton’s Research in Action page outlines our efforts and those of our collaborators. We plan to use the Opportunity Fund to nimbly support emerging research leaders and their work to help ensure we can meet this broadband moment. If you are interested in collaborating, please reach out to fellowships@benton.org.