Emmanuel Colmenares

Marine Corps sergeant turned policy researcher and builder. I hold a Master of Public Affairs from Brown’s Watson Institute and a bachelor’s in Slavic Studies, after five years maintaining satellite communications in the Pacific. Lately I ship language apps, build civic tools, and run the web side of a peace-and-security publication at Brown.

The work below is the short list. My resume has the full story in order, and off hours has the rest of me.

Selected Work
  1. 2026

    Boston Foot Traffic

    Public analytics site that turns Boston foot-traffic data into siting recommendations for small businesses and food trucks. Winner of the MPA Policy in Action Award; recommendations adopted by the City of Boston.

    Lead, with Grant Cohen, Nicole Nehiley .
  2. 2026

    Leksika

    An iPhone app for passive, low-friction Russian vocabulary. Built alone in Swift and SwiftUI, live on the App Store.

    Solo developer .
  3. 2026

    Soyle

    A sister app to Leksika for Kazakh, born out of a semester in Kazakhstan. Live on the App Store.

    Solo developer .
  4. 2026

    International Peace and Security

    Built and run the web home of a graduate policy publication at Brown, plus its sister site and a full accessibility rebuild of a course site.

    Designer, developer, and managing editor .
  5. 2026

    Sportswashing on Social Media

    Policy brief on how states launder reputation through sports content on social platforms, and what platforms could do about it. Accepted for later publication.

    Author .