Farah Najar Arevalo

Farah Najar Arevalo is a doctoral candidate at Arizona State University’s (ASU) School for the Future of Innovation in Society, where she also earned an MSc in Global Technology and Development in 2019. She holds a BA in International Relations from the Instituto Tecnológico de Estudios Superiores de Occidente (ITESO). Her research focuses on the governance of emerging urban technologies (smart cities) through feminist lenses, examining how these technologies impact women and other non-normative users in urban spaces.

Farah is a Research Assistant at the Arizona Consortium for Community Engagement, Innovation, and Learning on Consent-Based Siting (CCEIL-AZ) and serves on the ASU Graduate Student Committee on Artificial Intelligence. Previously, she worked with ASU’s Center for Smart Cities and Regions and the School for the Future of Innovation in Society, contributing to research on emerging technologies and their social and policy implications.

She served as Assembly President of the ASU Graduate and Professional Student Association (GPSA) for 2022-2023. Before beginning her PhD studies, Farah was an instructor in MIT’s Middle East Entrepreneurs of Tomorrow program, teaching Israeli and Palestinian youth. During her master’s studies, she worked as a Teaching Assistant, completed an internship with the City of Tempe, Arizona, and conducted research in Brazil.

Prior to graduate school, Farah gained experience in Mexico’s nonprofit and government sectors, working on Guadalajara Ciudad Creativa Digital and at Jalisco’s Institute for Information Technology (IJALTI).

Photo by: Dr. Katina Michael (Zoom), 2021