Makeda Tadesse is the Data Scientist at the Center for Black Digital Research and Penn State University Libraries, having joined in 2026. Through community-centered research and data storytelling, she seeks to use computational methods in data science and GIS to expand access to marginalized histories and digital archives. Her research interests explore refugee migration, collective memory and archival absences, and ethnolinguistic enclaves, with particular interest on Black diasporic communities and the ways digital technologies shape community formation and cultural-aesthetic preservation.

Makeda received her M.S. in Data Visualization from the Pratt Institute with advanced studies in Digital Humanities and Spatial Analysis, and a B.S. in Applied Economics from the University of Minnesota–Twin Cities. She came to data practice through curatorial and cultural research, and continues to curate independently.