Can Alondra Nelson Remake the Government’s Approach to Science and Tech?

‘A lifelong curiosity’ about science, tech and inequity A londra Nelson was born in Bethesda, Maryland, in 1968. Stephen Voss for Politico Magazine “She’s a brilliant scholar who has bridged lots of different disciplines,” says Cobb of Nelson today. “I just think the world of her.” PhD in American studies in hand — her dissertation recounted the health activism of the 60s-era Black Panthers — in 2003 Nelson joined the Yale faculty as an assistant professor, and spent a half-dozen years in New Haven before being recruited away by Columbia, first to teach, then also to serve as the dean of social science for the school. “But those same discoveries can be turned into ever-more efficient killing machines.” Says Nelson, “I was very interested in the emergence in American science and technology policy of a conversation about ethics and values in an explicit way from the White House.” Nelson’s work on the book, rooted in the idea that Obama broke new presidential ground by centering the ethical implications of tech and science, would raise her profile in Washington, but the Biden universe already had her on their radar screen. President-elect Biden would craft a new role custom-built for Nelson, one she had her own hand in defining: the first ever “deputy director of science and society.” Nelson signed on.