Jacob Shapiro is Professor of Politics and International Affairs at Princeton University. Shapiro co-founded and directs the Empirical Studies of Conflict Project, a multi-university consortium that studies politically motivated violence in countries around the world. He also leads Princeton’s Accelerator initiative, which is working with consortium partners on three continents to build shared infrastructure to radically increase the pace of scientific research on the information environment.

Shapiro has published on conflict, economic development, and security in a wide range of peer reviewed journals, as well as more than 100 policy articles, reports, and book chapters. He is author of The Terrorist’s Dilemma: Managing Violent Covert Organizations and co-author of Small Wars, Big Data: The Information Revolution in Modern Conflict. Shapiro has conducted field research and large-scale policy evaluations in Afghanistan, Colombia, India, and Pakistan. He received the 2016 Karl Deutsch Award from the International Studies Association, given to a scholar younger than 40, or within 10 years of earning a Ph.D., who has made the most significant contribution to the study of international relations.

Shapiro has advised government agencies, NGOs, and large technology companies on issues related to security policy, transparency, support to academic research, and foreign malign influence. He earned a Ph.D. in Political Science and M.A. in Economics at Stanford University and a B.A. in Political Science at the University of Michigan. Shapiro is a veteran of the United States Navy.