Debanjan Roychoudhury, Ph.D. is Adjunct Faculty Member at the Center for Urban Science and Progress in NYU Tandon School of Engineering. After completing his doctorate in sociology at University of California, Los Angeles in 2022, Roychoudhury completed a Mellon Foundation Postdoctoral Fellowship with the Prison Education Program in the Faculty of Arts and Science at NYU in 2024. Combining a background in computational social science with historical archival data storytelling skills, Roychoudhury uses GIS and ML to examine emerging patterns in urban policing, and programmatic community-based approaches to violence interruption and deterrence, translating complex analyses into actionable civic tech products. Dr. Roychoudhury is currently collaborating with New York City government agencies, nonprofit organizations, and the private sector to drive projects from scoping through delivery of intuitive, decision-ready data tools and comprehensive reports for diverse stakeholders. Roychoudhury primarily utilizes ArcGIS StoryMaps to present interactive dashboards, compelling visualizations, and is also developing applied ML tools, building reproducible pipelines and scalable workflows that enable more effective, fairer justice outcomes. Dr. Roychoudhury studied GIS at UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs and has prepared and combined numerous large administrative datasets for spatial analysis and has also taught college courses to residents detained in correctional facilities and juvenile detention centers in New York State since 2022.
Education
University of California, Los Angeles
2022 Doctor of Philosophy, Sociology
2018 Master of Arts, Sociology
Middlebury College
2016 Bachelor of Arts, Sociology
Publications
2022, Roychoudhury, Debanjan. “Police Violence in Black and White: A Critical Discourse Analysis of News Reporting on the Police Killings of Clifford Glover and Sean Bell in Jamaica, Queens, New York.” Du Bois Review.
Working Paper. Roychoudhury, Debanjan. Shadowing the Messenger: Evaluating Non-Enforcement and the Effectiveness of Credible Messenger Services as Deterrence.
Working Paper. Roychoudhury, Debanjan. Predicting Substantiation of Police Misconduct Civilian Complaints in New York City.
Working Paper. Roychoudhury, Debanjan. Historically Locating the American War on Drugs: The Geospatial Consequences of Tactical Narcotics Teams (TNT).
ArcGIS Storymap: 2025, Roychoudhury, Debanjan. PAYING FOR THEIR TIME: Mapping the Financial Costs of Incarceration in New York State for Family and Loved Ones. https://arcg.is/W80mL1
Awards
2025-2026 NYU-2026 Public Interest Technology University Network (PIT-UN) Tech for Change “Urban Informatics for Safe, Just, and Thriving Communities” Hackathon Grant, New York University Tandon School of Engineering Center for Urban Science and Progress ($15K)
2022-2024 Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Postdoctoral Associate, NYU PEP ($128K)
2023-2024 New York University Postdoctoral Professional Development Grant ($2.5K)
2021-2022 University of California Office of the President Dissertation Year Fellowship ($25K)
2021-2022 UCLA Institute for American Cultures (IAC) Graduate Fellowship ($20K)
2016-2021 Eugene V. Cota-Robles Fellowship, University of California, Los Angeles ($50K)
2015 Leadership Alliance Mellon Initiative Summer Research-Early Identification Program (SR-EIP) Fellowship, Columbia University ($5K)
2014-2016 Middlebury College Center for Social Entrepreneurship Fellowship ($5K)
2012-2016 Posse Foundation Full-Tuition Leadership Scholarship, Middlebury College ($180K)