Jakob Urda joined CPOST during the fall of 2016 as a data collection intern. He worked primarily on studying suicide attacks in Afghanistan and Syria, and helped develop procedures for gathering research from twitter. Jakob was promoted to Data Collection Supervisor in 2017, where he helped direct the research for the suicide attack database.

In 2018, Jakob was promoted to Deputy Manager of the Data Team, where he supported the management of the Data Collection and Data Analytics Teams and provided research support for projects on counterinsurgency in Afghanistan. In April 2019, Jakob represented CPOST at a NATO Center of Excellence conference, where he lectured on suicide terrorism. Outside of CPOST, Jakob is interested in technology policy, grand strategy, and world order.