Dawson Lau

Graduate Research Assistant

Dawson Lau (he/him) is currently pursuing dual master’s degrees in Nonprofit Leadership and Management and Sustainability Management at USC, with a focus on nonprofit systems and infrastructure and sustainability strategy, specifically how organizations build the internal capacity to sustain their missions over time. He holds a Bachelor of Arts in Urban Planning from Binghamton University.

Before returning to school, he spent five years at the San Francisco-Marin Food Bank supervising food distribution across 21 sites for up to 1,200 households a week. Most recently, he supported the LA Homeless Count Demographic Survey through USC’s Suzanne Dworak-Peck School of Social Work, conducting bilingual outreach in Spanish across Los Angeles County census tracts. His Marine Corps years included a deployment to the Horn of Africa, where he supported Army Civil Affairs operations in the field. He’s currently a Staff Sergeant in US Army Psychological Operations, where he leads a team that turns target audience research into communication strategy.

Right now his focus is on how civic data can support community organizations that are doing the most important work with the least resources.