Jen Shin is the Senior Manager of Urban Transformation and Global Lead of the WRI Ross Center Prize for Cities. She is responsible for steering the strategic vision of the Prize to foster organizational collaboration and expand the Prize’s global impact, visibility, and influence. As the Prize lead, Jen oversees management and implementation of the annual awards cycle and stewards the Prize toward realizing its long-term vision within the WRI Ross Center.

Jen comes to WRI with an interdisciplinary background in architecture and urban ecology. She has contributed to 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 an NYC-based architecture firm, LevenBetts, for an exhibition at Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art that focused on affordable housing.

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 Paul and Daisy Soros Fellowship for New Americans. She received her Bachelor of Architecture from Drexel University.

Jen lives in Brooklyn, NY with her partner and is very active in the NYC running community.