Jen Shin is the Manager for Urban Transformation at WRI Ross Center for Sustainable Cities and Global Lead for the WRI Ross Center Prize for Cities. She is responsible for daily oversight of the Prize and manages its diverse stakeholders. Jen also provides strategic direction for the Prize to amplify its global reach, nurture its network of urban changemakers, and inspire trailblazing urban transformation across the globe.

Jen comes to WRI with an interdisciplinary background in architecture and urban ecology. She has contributed to numerous synthesis reports on urban climate adaptation and mitigation including the urban mitigation chapter for the IPCC (UN Climate Change) 6th Assessment Report. Previously, she led an all-timber pavilion project while at LevenBetts for an exhibition at Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art that focused on affordable housing. The project was completed with a fully sustainable timber chain-of-custody and received grant support from the Sustainable Forestry Initiative. Jen is a Lecturer at the Yale School of Architecture, where she teaches an interdisciplinary environmental colloquium course. She also serves as the Joint-Degree Program Coordinator between the Yale School of the Environment and Yale School of Architecture.

Jen earned her Master of Environmental Management from the Yale School of the Environment and Master of Architecture from the Yale School of Architecture. Her joint-graduate studies were supported by the prestigious Paul and Daisy Soros Fellowship for New Americans. She received her Bachelor of Architecture from Drexel University. She lives in Brooklyn, NY, with her partner and is very active in the NYC running community.