Alondra Nelson

Alondra Nelson is the Harold F. Linder Chair at the Institute for Advanced Study, where she leads the Science, Technology, and Social Values Lab. Her research examines how social inequalities shape and are shaped by emerging technologies, with award-winning books including The Social Life of DNA and Body and Soul. Previously, Nelson was a professor at Yale University and at Columbia University, where she established the Division of Social Science, serving as its first dean. As deputy assistant to the President and acting director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, she led development of "The Blueprint for an AI Bill of Rights." TIME named her among the 100 most influential people in AI (2023), and Nature recognized her among 10 People Who Shaped Science (2022). Nelson served on the UN High-level Advisory Body on Artificial Intelligence and has been elected to the National Academy of Medicine, American Philosophical Society, American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and Council on Foreign Relations. Her honors include the MIT Morison Prize, Morals and Machines Prize, and Friedrich Schiedel Prize, alongside honorary degrees from Northeastern, Rutgers, and CUNY.