Alondra Nelson

Advisory Board Member

Widely known for her research at the intersection of science, technology, and society, Alondra Nelson is the Harold F. Linder Professor at the Institute for Advanced Study, an independent research center in Princeton, NJ.

Nelson is also a distinguished senior fellow at the Center for American Progress. As a science and technology policy adviser, she provides guidance to local, state, and federal governments, legislators, multilateral organizations, philanthropy, industry, and others.

She was formerly deputy assistant to President Joe Biden and acting director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, whereshe led the development of the “Blueprint for an AI Bill of Rights,” a cornerstone of President Biden’s recent artificial intelligence executive order. In recognition of her OSTP tenure, Nature named Nelson to its global list of Ten People Who Shaped Science in 2022. In 2023, she was included on the TIME 100 list of the most influential people in AI, and was appointed by United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres to serve on the High-level Advisory Body on AI.

Nelson was previously on the faculty of Columbia University, where she was the inaugural Dean of Social Science. She was formerly president and CEO of the Social Science Research Council. An elected member of the American Academy of Arts and Science, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American Philosophical Society, the Council on Foreign Relations, and the National Academy of Medicine, Nelson serves on the boards of Mozilla and the Innocence Project.