Dr. Clarence Wardell III is a researcher and social entrepreneur who is passionate about using technology to increase and enhance civic engagement. Previously, Clarence was a Research Scientist with CNA Corporation’s Safety & Security group, where he provided analytical support to emergency management and law enforcement organizations to improve response outcomes. In that role, Clarence also led CNA’s research on the adoption and use of new media technologies by emergency managers and law enforcement agencies. This has included work with the National Emergency Management Association, CrisisCommons, Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, and American Red Cross. As part of this work, he was the lead author of the 2011 Social Media + Emergency Management Camp: Transforming the Response Enterprise report and co-author of The Current State of Social Media in Emergency Management: Findings of a 2012 National Survey of Emergency Management Agencies.
In addition to his work with CNA, Clarence has developed several civic-focused software products, including Trivial Impact, a political trivia mobile game, and tinyGive, a social media-based microphilanthropy platform that he co-founded in 2012. Through tinyGive, and in collaboration with the Science of Philanthropy Initiative, he also designs and conducts online field experiments that examine issues of participation, value, and voice in the context of new media-based cause engagement.
Clarence holds a BSE in Computer Engineering from the University of Michigan and a Ph.D. from the Georgia Institute of Technology's School of Industrial and Systems Engineering. Originally from Lathrup Village, MI, he now resides in Washington, DC.