ABOUT

Dr. Amber Spry is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Politics and the Department of African and African American Studies at Brandeis University. She earned her Ph.D. from Columbia University. Amber’s research and teaching address the dynamics of political attitudes and behaviors in United States politics. Specifically, Amber develops and tests methodologies for measuring and understanding identity and its social and political correlates. She is also a thought leader on the societal impact of emerging technology, and is an academic collaborator bridging social scientific insights with product application in the tech industry with expertise in generative AI, identity measurement, and preference prediction.

Dr. Spry’s forthcoming book Centering Identities: What group ties can (and can’t) tell us about politics examines the influence of identity on political attitudes and policy preferences.  She uses innovative survey design methods to demonstrate how inferences about group political attitudes may differ depending on how individuals are asked to self-identify.  Amber has held fellowships at MIT and the Leadership Alliance. Her work has been supported by the National Science Foundation and the Russell Sage Foundation Presidential Grant for Computational Social Science.

Prior to her career in research, Amber studied music extensively. She has performed and recorded professionally, and has toured the United States and Europe as a musician whose skill spans several genres. She is a classically trained pianist and vocalist who sings jazz, R&B, and contemporary music. 

In 2008 while performing at a national political convention, Amber reached a defining moment in her career. Full of questions and captured by the energy of the event, Amber became motivated to study cultural identity and political behavior in American democracy. She began working at the Urban Institute, a policy think tank in Washington D.C. and has been pursuing research ever since.