| 1 | Name: | Dr. Alondra Nelson | |
| Institution: | Institute for Advanced Study; President, Social Science Research Council | ||
| Year Elected: | 2020 | ||
| Class: | 3. Social Sciences | ||
| Subdivision: | 301. Anthropology, Demography, Psychology, and Sociology | ||
| Residency: | resident | ||
| Living? : | Living | ||
| Birth Date: | 1968 | ||
Noted for her talent as both a transformative leader and a pathbreaking scholar, Nelson is President of the Social Science Research Council and the Harold F. Linder Professor of Social Science at the Institute for Advanced Study (IAS). She joined the IAS faculty in 2019, following a decade at Columbia University, where she served as professor of sociology and the inaugural Dean of Social Science. Nelson was previously on the faculty of Yale University and there received the Poorvu Award for interdisciplinary teaching excellence. A sociologist of science, technology and social inequality, she is author, most recently, of the widely-acclaimed book, The Social Life of DNA: Race, Reparations and Reconciliation after the Genome. Her groundbreaking books also include the award-winning work, Body and Soul: The Black Panther Party and the Fight Against Medical Discrimination, Genetics and the Unsettled Past: The Collision of DNA, Race, and History (with Keith Wailoo and Catherine Lee), and Technicolor: Race, Technology, and Everyday Life (with Thuy Linh Tu). Nelson’s writings and commentary also have reached the broader public through a variety of outlets. And she has contributed to national policy discussions on inequality and the implications of new technology on society. She is a trustee of the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, a director of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and a member of the Obama Presidency Oral History Advisory Board. Raised in Southern California, Nelson received her BA in 1994 from the University of California, San Diego, where she was elected to Phi Beta Kappa. She earned her PhD from New York University in 2003. She has been elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the American Academy of Political and Social Science, and the Sociological Research Association. She was elected a member of the American Philosophical Society in 2020. | |||