Alondra NELSON

Alondra Nelson is the Harold F. Linder Professor at the Institute for Advanced Study and a distinguished senior fellow at the Center for American Progress. A former deputy assistant to President Joe Biden, she served as acting director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP). Including Nelson in the list of “Ten People Who Shaped Science” in 2022, Nature said of her OSTP tenure, “this social scientist made strides for equity, integrity and open access.

Nelson drove Biden-Harris administration strategy to develop science and technology policy that expands economic opportunity, protects civil rights, enhances security, and advances equity. She was architect of the White House’s landmark “Blueprint for an AI Bill of Rights,” which is a cornerstone of President Biden’s recent Executive Order on the Safe, Secure, and Trustworthy Development and Use of Artificial Intelligence. In recognition of this work, Nelson was named to the inaugural TIME100 list of the most influential list of people in AI in 2023.

Nelson regularly advises American lawmakers, including U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, on issues of national importance, including AI governance. As a science and technology policy advisor, she has provided guidance to local, state, and federal governments, legislators, multilateral and international organizations, and others. In October 2023, she was appointed as the U.S. representative to the United Nations High-Level Advisory Board on Artificial Intelligence, and in November 2023, she was a civil society representative to the UK AI Safety Summit.

An acclaimed academic researcher, Nelson served as the inaugural Dean of Social Science at Columbia University and and was the 14th president and CEO of the US Social Science Research Council. She writes and lectures widely on the intersections of science, technology, medicine, and social inequality. Nelson is the author of several books including, most recently, The Social Life of DNA. Her essays, reviews, and commentary have been featured in national and international media outlets, including The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, Wired and Science.

Nelson is an elected member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American Philosophical Society, the Council on Foreign Relations, and the U.S. National Academy of Medicine.