Elizabeth Rhodes, MSW, PhD, is Research Director at OpenResearch, where she leads research on economic security, work, and technology in the lives of low-income individuals and communities. Trained in social work and political science, she directed the most comprehensive study of unconditional cash transfers in the United States — a three-year, 3,000-person randomized controlled trial examining how direct income support affects well-being, health, financial security, and employment.

Her work increasingly focuses on how technology intersects with economic inequality, including how people encounter AI in workplaces, public systems, and everyday decision-making. She works across research, policy, and technology communities to better understand how emerging tools shape opportunity, risk, and access in a rapidly changing society.