Situational Decision-making Program Director

Department Harris School Sit-D About the Department

Policy with real impact doesn’t evolve from ideology or intuition, or even experience. At the University of Chicago Harris School of Public Policy, developing effective public policy is a science, based on data and measurable impact. Addressing today’s interconnected challenges requires rigorous inquiry. It also requires innovative people who will face the facts, gather data, and understand why current policies exist to improve them.

For more than 30 years, the University of Chicago Harris School of Public Policy has been steadfastly committed to serving society by advancing analysis- and evidence-informed policy. Guided by this exacting mission, our community of faculty, students, and alumni from the public, private, and nonprofit sectors are taking on the world’s most important problems by using the latest tools of social science.

The Harris School seeks to hire a Program Director for the Situational Decision-making (Sit-D) Training. Sit-D is an innovative police training program developed at the University of Chicago that integrates cutting-edge behavioral science with immersive simulation technology to strengthen officer decision-making in high-stakes encounters. The Program Director will work directly with Professor Oeindrila Dube, who helped create the Sit-D training. This work is supported by the Harris School Bike Shop@UChicago, a research center where economists and computer scientists build "bicycles for the mind"—algorithms that enhance human capacity rather than replace it.

The Program Director will provide strategic and operational leadership for a portfolio of projects supporting the replication, evaluation, and expansion of Sit-D—including incubating AI-enhanced versions of the training. Working in close partnership with Professor Dube, the Program Director will guide these projects from early engagement with law enforcement partners through implementation and evaluation readiness, exercising substantial day-to-day leadership. The Program Director will also represent the initiative with external partners and funders and help secure the resources, relationships, and visibility needed to position Sit-D for broader expansion across agencies and jurisdictions.

The role calls for two core capabilities. The Program Director must be able to build and sustain high-level relationships with senior law enforcement officials and institutional partners, bringing the energy and drive to generate momentum across a complex, multi-site initiative. Equally important is a sophisticated understanding of program evaluation — including study design, randomization, and outcome measurement — that enables productive engagement with research teams and partner agencies in working through evaluation parameters and implementation feasibility.

• Leads and directs the operational development, incubation, replication, and scale-up of Sit-D training initiatives, guiding a portfolio of projects from early engagement with law enforcement partners through implementation and evaluation readiness, in close partnership with Professor Dube.
• Conducts strategic outreach and engagement with senior officials in state government and law enforcement leadership to build partnerships and advance opportunities for Sit-D implementation and evaluation.
• Advises on strategic decisions regarding which states and jurisdictions to prioritize for Sit-D expansion and replication.
• Assesses opportunities to integrate emerging technologies, including AI-assisted tools, into Sit-D training and scaling; oversees law enforcement consultants retained to refine and adapt training curricula for new jurisdictions and emerging technology applications, considering both technological feasibility and institutional constraints.
• Leads study design discussions and early-stage evaluation planning, working with research staff and partner agencies to establish feasible approaches to randomization, sample size, outcome measurement, and implementation.
• Oversees the groundwork required to launch evaluations, including coordinating data use agreements, facilitating…