Maria Y. Rodriguez, MSW, PhD Rodriguez joined the University at Buffalo in 2020. Her research is at the intersection of applied demography, computational social science, and social policy. Dr. Rodriguez’ work explores systems of care across technology and human services. From offline child welfare systems to online social media platforms, her work examines the systems we build to care for marginalized groups, particularly how we make decisions about whom those groups are. Based on a central tenet of ethical social work practice, the aim of Dr. Rodriguez’ work is to support the reorientation of systems towards working best for outlier cases. In her work, Dr. Rodriguez explores if and how the values and ideals  that define systems  can come from the  lived experience of the system involved.

• PhD, Social Welfare, University of Washington, 2016
• MSW, Macro Social Work Practice, University of Pennsylvania, 2010
• BA, Clinical Counseling and Child Psychology, Alfred University, 2005

• 3rd annual Anthem Award, Human and Civil Rights -Best Use of Data, for the report “An Unrepresentative Democracy," 2024
• Best Reviewer, EAAMO, October 2021 
• SUNY ProdiG Fellow, Spring 2020 -Spring 2022 
• UW Graduate School Presidential Dissertation Fellowship, Spring 2016