Alondra Nelson

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Alondra Nelson
Director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy
Acting
In office February 18, 2022 – October 3, 2022
President	Joe Biden
Preceded by	Eric Lander
Succeeded by	Arati Prabhakar
Principal Deputy Director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy for Science and Society
In office January 20, 2021 – February 17, 2023
President	Joe Biden
Preceded by	Position established
Personal details
Born	1968 (age 55–56) Bethesda, Maryland, U.S.
Education	University of California, San Diego (BA) New York University (MPhil, PhD)
Academic work
Discipline	Science and technology studies Political sociology Social movements Cultural sociology Social theory African American studies Science policy
Institutions	Institute for Advanced Study Social Science Research Council Columbia University Yale University

Alondra Nelson (born April 22, 1968) is an American academic, policy advisor, non-profit administrator, and writer. She is the Harold F. Linder chair and professor in the School of Social Science at the Institute for Advanced Study, an independent research center in Princeton, New Jersey. From 2021 to 2023, Nelson was deputy assistant to President Joe Biden and principal deputy director for science and society of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP), where she performed the duties of the director from February to October 2022.^[1][2] She was the first African American and first woman of color to lead OSTP.^[3] Prior to her role in the Biden Administration, she served for four years as president and CEO of the Social Science Research Council, an independent, nonpartisan international nonprofit organization. Nelson was previously professor of sociology at Columbia University, where she served as the inaugural Dean of Social Science,^[4] as well as director of the Institute for Research on Women and Gender. She began her academic career on the faculty of Yale University.

Nelson writes and lectures widely on the intersections of science, technology, medicine, and social inequality. She has authored or edited articles, essays, and four books including, most recently, The Social Life of DNA: Race, Reparations, and Reconciliation after the Genome.