Elham Pilegar
Research Specialist
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About
Elham (Elly) Pilegar is a Research Specialist at the Great Cities Institute, where she contributes to research projects focused on spatial data analysis, program evaluation, and community development. Her work spans the full data pipeline—from data collection and cleaning to exploratory analysis, research design, and the development of analytical models for causal inference.
Elham has a strong interest in designing research and applying advanced, up-to-date causal inference methods to estimate program impacts. In her recent work at GCI, she has focused on causal inference approaches for program evaluation as part of the “Evaluating the Implementation and Impact of We Rise Together” project. In this role, she collects and processes spending pattern data along with weekly and monthly foot-traffic data from points of interest (POIs). She develops both parametric and non-parametric models to assess how anchor projects supported by We Rise Together influence local businesses and surrounding foot-traffic patterns.
Elham also contributes to academic research on housing and economic impacts, including studies on the 606/Bloomingdale Trail, the Obama Presidential Center, and the economic effects of major disasters.
With a background in Urban Design and a strong passion for data storytelling, Elham creates static and interactive maps, dashboards, and visualizations tailored to diverse audiences. Prior to her current role, she worked as a Research Assistant at the Great Cities Institute while pursuing her Master of Science in Civic Analytics (MSCA) at the University of Illinois Chicago, where she strengthened her technical and analytical skills.