AAADS/IRAAS- ZORA NEALE HURSTON LECTURE
“TECHNOLOGY AND FREEDOM.”
with
ALONDRA NELSON, Harold F. Linder Professor of Social Science at the Institute for Advanced Study;
former acting director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP)
LOCATION: BARNARD COLLEGE-DIANA CENTER EVENT OVAL
3009 BROADWAY, NEW YORK, NY 10027
Registration: https://bit.ly/3IJzsit
Event Collaborators: African American & African Diaspora Studies Department-Columbia University (AAADS) Institute for Research in African-American Studies-Columbia University (IRAAS); The Institute For Social And Economic Research And Policy- Columbia University (ISERP) and Africana Studies -Barnard College
Alondra Nelson is the Harold F. Linder Professor of Social Science at the Institute for Advanced Study, where she leads the Science, Technology, and Social Values Lab. From 2021-2023, she served as deputy assistant to President Joe Biden and acting director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP). At OSTP, she was the architect of the influential “Blueprint for an AI Bill of Rights,” and led Biden-Harris administration strategy to develop science and technology policy that expands economic opportunity, protects civil rights, and advances equity. In recognition of Nelson’s impactful OSTP tenure, Nature named her to its list of the 10 People Who Shaped Science in 2022.
Widely known for her scholarship at the intersection of science, technology, and society, Nelson is the author of several award-winning books including The Social Life of DNA, and her essays, reviews, and commentary have been featured in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, Foreign Affairs, Wired and Science. She is a member of the United Nations High-Level Advisory Board on Artificial Intelligence and was named to the inaugural TIME100 list of the most influential people in the field of AI.
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The Zora Neal Hurston Lecture is a return to Columbia for Dr. Nelson, where she was previously the inaugural Dean of Social Science, Professor of Sociology, and affiliate faculty in the Department of African American and African Diaspora Studies.
