Jonars Spielberg

As Assistant Director, Jonars is responsible for the overall programmatic and daily adiminstration of the Special Program for Urban and Regional Studies (SPURS).

As an academic, Jonars’ work draws on more than a decade of conducting research across Sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia, and Central America on the role of technology, innovation, and entrepreneurship in development as well as the politics and political economy of service provision. Broadly, he examines how the state and citizens work together to co-produce essential public services, and how shifts in development thinking have influenced what kinds of technological interventions are legitimized and valorized. Using the Senegal River Valley as a case study, Jonars’ doctoral dissertation investigates how technological interventions mediate everyday interactions between bureaucrats and smallholder farmers, and how these shape agricultural management processes and outcomes. His research illuminates the conditions under which pressing equity and sustainability challenges can be adequately addressed.

Prior to his doctorate, Jonars was a research associate with MIT's Comprehensive Initiative on Technology Evaluation (CITE), which MIT D-Lab has led since 2017. At CITE, he conducted research on the adoption of household products among low-income communities in East Africa and South Asia. His more recent and ongoing work with D-Lab explores Skills and Innovation Improvements in Higher Education, Industry-Academia Partnerships to Strengthen Regional Competitiveness, Last-Mile Clean Energy Entrepreneurship, Digital Financial Services for Smallholder Farmers, Access to Affordable Bicycles, and Achieving Sustainable Partnerships for Innovation, Research, and Entrepreneurship. Jonars has also been affiliated with MIT's Abdul Latif Jameel Water and Food Systems Lab (J-WAFS), the Martin Family Society of Fellows for Sustainability, and the Resilient Communities Lab. During the 2019-2020 academic year, he conducted fieldwork in Senegal as a Fulbright Fellow. From 2022-2024, he helped manage the SPURS program as a doctoral associate.

Jonars holds a B.A. in International Relations and a B.A. in Classical Studies, both from Michigan State University, an M.A. in International Relations and Environmental Policy from Boston University, and a Ph.D. in International Development and Planning from MIT.