R. David Edelman

CSAIL

Research keywords: AI, autonomous vehicles, broadband, cybersecurity, machine learning, privacy, national security policy, spectrum, telecommunications

R. David Edelman is the Director of the Project on Technology, Economy, and National Security (TENS). He leads AI policy research for the MIT Internet Policy Research Initiative (IPRI). Edelman was the White House Special Assistant to the President for Economic and Technology Policy at the National Economic Council (NEC) and the Office of Science & Technology Policy (OSTP) under President Obama. He is the former Director for International Cyber Policy on the National Security Council (NSC) and the lead organizer of the annual MIT AI Policy Congress.

Gary Gensler

Sloan School of Management

Research keywords: blockchain technology, digital currencies, financial technology

Gary Gensler is a Professor of the Practice in Global Economics and Management, Co-Director of MIT’s Fintech@CSAIL, and a Senior Advisor to the MIT Media Lab Digital Currency Initiative. He is the current U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chairman under the Biden-Harris administration. He is the former chairman of the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission under President Obama. He also served as a senior advisor to US Senator Paul Sarbanes in writing the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (2002). He was Under Secretary of the Treasury for Domestic Finance and Assistant Secretary of the Treasury during the Clinton Administration. He was the CFO for Hillary Clinton's 2016 presidential campaign and senior advisor to Clinton’s 2008 campaign. Gensler was an economic advisor for the Obama 2008 campaign. At present, he is a member of the SERC AI and Public Policy Action Group.

Neha Narula

Media Lab

Research keywords: cryptocurrencies, blockchain technology

Neha Narula is the Director of the Digital Currency Initiative and a Research Scientist in the MIT Media Lab. She was a member of the World Economic Forum's Global Futures Council on Blockchain and served on the MIT SERC AI and Public Policy Action Group.

Elisabeth "Liz" Reynolds

DUSP

Research keywords: innovation systems, advanced manufacturing

Elisabeth Reynolds is the Executive Director of the MIT Task Force on the Work of the Future. She is a Principal Research Scientist, Executive Director of the MIT Industrial Performance Center, and a Lecturer in the Department of Urban Studies and Planning. She is President Biden’s Special Assistant to the President for Manufacturing and Economic Development at the National Economic Council (NEC).

Simon Johnson

Sloan School of Management

Research keywords: entrepreneurship, finance, banking, Wall Street

Simon Johnson is a Ronald A. Kurtz (1954) Professor of Entrepreneurship, a Professor of Global Economics and Management, and head of the Global Economics and Management group. From 2012 to 2019, he was a member of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) Systemic Resolution Advisory Committee. From July 2014 to 2017, Johnson was a member of the Financial Research Advisory Committee of the U.S. Treasury’s Office of Financial Research (OFR), within which he chaired the Global Vulnerabilities Working Group. From April 2009 to April 2015, he was a member of the Congressional Budget Office's Panel of Economic Advisers. In March 2016, Johnson was the third distinguished visiting fellow at the Central Bank of Barbados.

Luis Videgaray

Sloan School of Management

Research keywords: energy policy, AI and technology policy, telecommunications, fintech

Luis Videgaray is a Senior Lecturer and Director of the MIT AI Policy for the World Project. He is a former Foreign Minister and Finance Minister of Mexico. He led Mexico’s successful renegotiation of the NAFTA (now USMCA). He conducted Mexico’s leading role in the UN towards an inclusive debate on AI. He also led Mexico’s historic energy liberalization, a telecommunications reform to foster competition in the sector, a tax reform, and the drafting of Mexico’s Fintech Law. Videgaray recently served on the MIT SERC AI and Public Policy Action Group and is part of the leadership team of the MIT AI Policy Forum, convened by the Schwarzman College of Computing.

John Fernandez

Esi

Research keywords: urban agriculture, local farming, urban metabolism, material flow analysis, architecture

John Fernandez is a Professor and Director of the Building Technology Program in the Department of Architecture. He is also the Director of the Urban Metabolism Group, co-Director of the International Design Center at MIT, and an affiliate with the MIT Environmental Solutions Initiative (ESI). He has done consulting work for cities across the world to help them become more sustainable. Prof. Fernandez was a member of the Department of Energy Roadmap 2020 Advisory Committee and a member of the Research Committee of the nonprofit United States Green Building Council.

R. Scott Kemp

Department of Nuclear Science and Engineering

Research keywords: weapons of mass destruction, nuclear energy

R. Scott Kemp is an Associate Professor of Nuclear Science and Engineering and director of the MIT Laboratory for Nuclear Security and Policy. He served as a Science Advisor in the U.S. State Department's Office of the Special Advisor for Nonproliferation and Arms Control and worked on Iran Nuclear Deal.

Nicholas A. Ashford

TPP

Research keywords: regulatory law and economics, pollution prevention, labor, environmental justice, inequality, sustainable development

Nicholas A. Ashford is a Professor of Technology and Policy and the director of MIT’s Technology and Law Program, associated with the MIT Technology and Policy Program (TPP). Ashford was a public member and chairman of the National Advisory Committee on Occupational Safety & Health, served on the EPA Science Advisory Board, and was chairman of the Committee on Technology Innovation & Economics of the EPA National Advisory Council for Environmental Policy and Technology. He worked for the United Nations Environment Programme, the OECD, and the European Union, as well as for U.S. regulatory agencies and the U.S. Office of Technology Assessment. His policy work began with a PhD in Chemistry, followed by a law degree.

John Fernandez

ESI

Research keywords: urban agriculture, local farming, urban metabolism, material flow analysis, architecture

John Fernandez is a Professor and Director of the Building Technology Program in the Department of Architecture. He is also the Director of the Urban Metabolism Group, co-Director of the International Design Center at MIT, and an affiliate with the MIT Environmental Solutions Initiative (ESI). He has done consulting work for cities across the world to help them become more sustainable. Prof. Fernandez was a member of the Department of Energy Roadmap 2020 Advisory Committee and a member of the Research Committee of the nonprofit United States Green Building Council.

David Hsu

DUSP

Research keywords: infrastructure planning, electric grid, air pollution, GHG emissions

David Hsu is an Associate Professor of Urban and Environmental Planning, and he’s currently part of the Roosevelt Project of the MIT Center for Economic and Environmental Policy. David's research and teaching focuses on understanding the relationship of cities, the environment, and infrastructure. His work seeks to assist a wide range of actors -- local policymakers, planners, advocates, as well as academics – shape this relationship through analysis of technology, data, and policy implementation. Current areas of interest are activating and coordinating local governments towards more aggressive climate action; urban air quality; and building decarbonization. Previous areas of work are energy efficiency in buildings and green infrastructure for stormwater management. He is currently working on a book contracted with the University of Chicago Press on governance of the electric grid, as well as on working papers on political spending, utility regulation, and federal, state, and local issues in deep decarbonization. He has a B.S. and M.S. on physics, and has worked in government, finance, and engineering.

Richard C. Larson

IDSS

Research keywords: operations, urban service systems, emergency response, disaster planning, pandemics, queueing, logistics, technology-enabled education, smart-energy houses, workforce planning

Richard C. Larson is a Professor (Post Tenure) in the Institute for Data, Systems, and Society (IDSS). He worked as a consultant to the World Bank, the United Nations, the nonprofit policy think tank RAND Corporation, and the U.S. Department of Justice. Prof. Larson has undertaken major projects with the U.S. Postal Service, the City of New York, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and the National Institutes of Health (NIH). He was also an invited member of the Institute of Medicine Board on Health Sciences Policy and the Standing Committee on Emergency Management and Medical Response Integration.

Richard Schmalensee

Sloan School of Management

Research keywords: industrial organization economics, antitrust, energy

Richard Schmalensee is a Professor of Management and Economics Emeritus and a Dean Emeritus. He was a member of the President's Council of Economic Advisers and served as Director of the MIT Center for Energy and Environmental Policy Research for twelve years.

Noelle Eckley Selin

EAPS, IDSS, TPP

Research keywords: atmospheric chemistry, air pollution, climate change, hazardous substances

Noelle Eckley Selin is an Associate Professor, Director of the MIT Technology and Policy Program (TPP), and part of the MIT Institute for Data, Systems & Society (IDSS). She was a visiting researcher at the European Environment Agency in Copenhagen, Denmark. She has also worked on chemicals issues at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Recently, she contributed to the SERC AI and Public Policy Action Group at MIT.

Gene Skolnikoff

Department of Political Science

Research keywords: science policy, technology, international affairs, climate change

Gene Skolnikoff is a Professor of Political Science Emeritus. He served on the White House staff in the Office of the Special Assistant to the President for Science and Technology under Presidents Eisenhower and Kennedy, and he played an active role as Senior Consultant to the White House Science Office under President Carter. He was an MIT undergraduate in electrical engineering, a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford, and received a PhD from MIT in Political Science.

Karen Sollins

CSAIL

Research keywords: broadband, privacy in social networks, spam, urban wifi networks

Karen Sollins is a Principal Research Scientist in the Advanced Network Architecture Group at CSAIL, and she is affiliated with the MIT Internet Policy Research Initiative. Dr. Sollins is the Former Senior Director of Networking Research at the National Science Foundation (NSF). She was also a core team member of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) High-Performance Network Planning Workshop and a DOE Advanced Scientific Computing Advisory Committee Member.

Lawrence "Larry" Susskind

DUSP

Research keywords: negotiation, cybersecurity, infrastructure, environmental treaties, renewable energy policy, water equity, climate change, real estate, land claims of Indigenous Peoples

Larry Susskind is a Professor of Urban and Environmental Planning, Director of the MIT Science Impact Collaborative and Director of the MIT Cybersecurity Clinic. He is also part of the Internet Policy Research Initiative. Prof. Susskind has worked on negotiation around cybersecurity for critical urban infrastructure, global environmental treaty-making, the resolution of science-intensive policy disputes, renewable energy policy, water equity in older American cities, climate change adaptation, socially-responsible real estate development, and the land claims of Indigenous Peoples.

Maria Zuber

EAPS

Research keywords: tectonics, solid solar system objects

Maria Zuber is a Professor of Geophysics and MIT’s Vice President for Research. Zuber is the co-chair of the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST) under President Joe Biden.

Mariana Arcaya

DUSP

Research keywords: social epidemiology

Mariana Arcaya is the Department of Urban Studies and Planning Associate Department Head and an Associate Professor of Urban Planning and Public Health. She managed a Public Health Division within Metropolitan Boston’s regional planning agency, designing and overseeing the implementation of healthy urban planning strategies under a federally funded Community Transformation Grant.

Eric Lander

Department of Biology

Research keywords: Human Genome Project, genetics, cancer

Eric Lander is an MIT Professor of Biology, Professor of Systems Biology at Harvard Medical School, and the Founding Director of the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard. He is President Biden’s Presidential Science Advisor and Director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy (pending confirmation) under the Biden-Harris Administration. He is currently on leave from MIT, Harvard, and the Broad Institute.

Richard C. Larson

IDSS

Research keywords: operations, urban service systems, emergency response, disaster planning, pandemics, queueing, logistics, technology-enabled education, smart-energy houses, workforce planning

Richard C. Larson is a Professor (Post Tenure) in the Institute for Data, Systems, and Society (IDSS). He worked as a consultant to the World Bank, the United Nations, the nonprofit policy think tank RAND Corporation, and the U.S. Department of Justice. Prof. Larson has undertaken major projects with the U.S. Postal Service, the City of New York, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and the National Institutes of Health (NIH). He was also an invited member of the Institute of Medicine Board on Health Sciences Policy and the Standing Committee on Emergency Management and Medical Response Integration.

Hal Abelson

DepARTMENT of Electrical Engineering & Computer Science

Research keywords: OpenCourseWare, democratization of intellectual resources, computation, education

Hal Abelson is co-director of the MIT Internet Policy Research Initiative and a professor in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science. He was the former director of the Center for Democracy and Technology, a nonprofit seeking to “strengthen individual rights and freedoms” through influencing tech policy.

Nazli Choucri

DepARTMENT of Political Science

Research keywords: international relations, cyberpolitics, conflict, security

Nazli Choucri, a professor of Political Science, served two terms as President of the Scientific Advisory Committee of UNESCO's Management of Social Transformation Program. Choucri directs the Cyberpolitics@MIT initiative.

David Clark

CSAIL

Research keywords: internet architecture, cybersecurity

David Clark is a Senior Research Scientist in CSAIL. He helped the U.S. National Science Foundation organize their Future Internet Architectures program and serves as technical director of the MIT Internet Policy Research Initiative. His interests include cybersecurity policy, social impacts of the Internet, Internet economics and regulation, and network measurement.

Michael Coden

Sloan School of Management

Research keywords: cybersecurity, system dynamics modeling, data analytics, accident prevention theory

Michael Coden is a Research Affiliate at the MIT Sloan School of Management and Associate Director of the MIT Interdisciplinary Consortium for Improving Critical Infrastructure Cybersecurity. He has worked with the White House on the development of their cybersecurity framework.

R. David Edelman

CSAIL

Research keywords: AI, autonomous vehicles, broadband, cybersecurity, machine learning, privacy, national security policy, spectrum, telecommunications

R. David Edelman is the Director of the Project on Technology, Economy, and National Security (TENS). He leads AI policy research for the MIT Internet Policy Research Initiative (IPRI). Edelman was the White House Special Assistant to the President for Economic and Technology Policy at the National Economic Council (NEC) and the Office of Science & Technology Policy (OSTP) under President Obama. He is the former Director for International Cyber Policy on the National Security Council (NSC) and the lead organizer of the annual MIT AI Policy Congress.

Taylor Reynolds

CSAIL

Research keywords: cryptography, cybersecurity, encryption, AI

Taylor Reynolds is the Technology Policy Director of the MIT Internet Policy Research Initiative (IPRI). He was a senior economist at the OECD and worked at the International Telecommunication Union, the World Bank, and the U.S. National Telecommunications and Information Administration.

Deb Roy

Media Lab

Research keywords: machine learning, human-machine interaction, dialogue, media ecosystems

Deb Roy is a Professor of Media Arts and Sciences and the Executive Director of the MIT Media Lab. He directs the MIT Center for Constructive Communication, which works on tools for facilitating constructive dialogue and analyzing large-scale media ecosystems. Prof. Roy is co-founder and Chair of Cortico, a nonprofit social venture that is developing and operating the Local Voices Network to foster constructive public conversations across political and cultural divides. He is also a member of the Aspen Institute Commission on Information Disorder.

Lawrence "Larry" Susskind

DUSP

Research keywords: negotiation, cybersecurity, infrastructure, environmental treaties, renewable energy policy, water equity, climate change, real estate, land claims of Indigenous Peoples

Larry Susskind is a Professor of Urban and Environmental Planning, Director of the MIT Science Impact Collaborative and Director of the MIT Cybersecurity Clinic. He is also part of the Internet Policy Research Initiative. Prof. Susskind has worked on negotiation around cybersecurity for critical urban infrastructure, global environmental treaty-making, the resolution of science-intensive policy disputes, renewable energy policy, water equity in older American cities, climate change adaptation, socially-responsible real estate development, and the land claims of Indigenous Peoples.

Chintan Vaishnav

Sloan School of Management

Research keywords: socio-technology, development, agricultural technology, innovation

Chintan Vaishnav is a Senior Lecturer in Operations Management in Sloan. Vaishnav advised the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) at the White House, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), and the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI).

Daniel Weitzner

CSAIL

Research keywords: Accountable Systems, privacy, copyright, digital trade, internet policy, cybersecurity, AI Policy

Daniel Weitzner is 3Com Founders Principal Research Scientist in CSAIL and Founding Director of the Internet Policy Research Initiative. He was the United States Deputy Chief Technology Officer for Internet Policy in the White House. Weitzner was responsible for the Obama Administration’s Consumer Privacy Bill of Rights and the OECD Internet Policymaking Principles.He is also founder of the Center for Democracy and Technology. As an Internet civil liberties advocate, he had a leading role in establishing strong free speech protections for the Internet, statutory protections against overbroad Internet surveillance, and Section 230 of the Communications Act.

Daniel Hastings

Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics

Research keywords: space systems, space propulsion, spacecraft manufacturing processes, space system architecting

Daniel Hastings is the Department Head of Aeronautics and Astronautics at MIT. He has served on the NASA Advisory Council and "led several national studies on government investment in space technology as well as science and technology (S&T) policy for the government."

Danielle Wood

Media Lab

Research keywords: justice, space technology, development

Danielle Wood is an Assistant Professor of Media Arts and Sciences and an Assistant Professor (Joint) of Aeronautics and Astronautics. She held positions at NASA Headquarters, the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, and the United Nations Office of Outer Space Affairs. She holds a PhD in engineering systems, an SM in aeronautics and astronautics, an SM in technology policy, and an SB in aerospace engineering - all from MIT.

Dava J. Newman

Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics

Research keywords: aerospace biomedical engineering, biomechanics, dynamics

Dava J. Newman is the incoming director of the MIT Media Lab. She’s also the Apollo Program Professor of Astronautics at MIT and a faculty member for Harvard–MIT Health, Sciences, and Technology. She served as NASA Deputy Administrator (2015-17), the first female engineer in this role, and was awarded the NASA Distinguished Service Medal. Her research and teaching expertise include aerospace biomedical engineering, astronaut performance, advanced space suit design, leadership development, innovation and space policy. Newman has been principal investigator (PI) on four spaceflight missions flown aboard the Space Shuttle, Russian Mir Space Station and the International Space Station, and is best known for her revolutionary BioSuit™ planetary spacesuit.

William “Bill” Bonvillian

Department of Political Science, TPP

Research keywords: workforce education, innovation, energy technology, advanced manufacturing

William “Bill” Bonvillian is a lecturer in the MIT Technology and Policy Program (TPP) and the Political Science Department and one of the instructors of the Science Policy Bootcamp. He was a senior policy advisor in the U.S. Senate and the Deputy Assistant Secretary and Director of Congressional Affairs at the U.S. Department of Transportation. He is also a former director of MIT’s Washington, D.C. Office.

Kate Darling

Media Lab

Research keywords: social robotics

Kate Darling is a research specialist in the MIT Media Lab. She serves as the Media Lab’s intellectual property policy advisor and contributed to the SERC AI and Public Policy Action Group.

John M. Deutch

Department of Chemistry

Research keywords: physical chemistry, technology, energy, international security

John M. Deutch is an emeritus Institute Professor in Chemistry. Over the course of his career, he served as the Director of Central Intelligence, Deputy Secretary of Defense, and Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisitions and Technology. He also served as Director of Energy Research and Undersecretary of the Department of Energy. He has been a member of many presidential and congressional commissions.

R. David Edelman

CSAIL

Research keywords: AI, autonomous vehicles, broadband, cybersecurity, machine learning, privacy, national security policy, spectrum, telecommunications

R. David Edelman is the Director of the Project on Technology, Economy, and National Security (TENS). He leads AI policy research for the MIT Internet Policy Research Initiative (IPRI). Edelman was the White House Special Assistant to the President for Economic and Technology Policy at the National Economic Council (NEC) and the Office of Science & Technology Policy (OSTP) under President Obama. He is the former Director for International Cyber Policy on the National Security Council (NSC) and the lead organizer of the annual MIT AI Policy Congress.

Kenneth Oye

Department of Political Science

Research keywords: international relations, risk governance, biotechnology, pharmaceuticals, internet, nuclear energy

Kenneth Oye is a Professor of Political Science, Professor of Data Systems and Society, and Director of the Program on Emerging Technologies (PoET). He has done advisory work for the Petersen Institute for International Economics (a D.C. think tank), the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), the U.S. Treasury, the U.S. Department of Commerce, and the Export-Import Bank of the US (EXIM). He is also a member of the MIT Internet Policy Research Initiative.

Alex “Sandy” Pentland

IDSS, Media Lab

Research keywords: privacy, sustainable development, computation

Alex “Sandy” Pentland is a Professor of Media Arts and Sciences, affiliated with the MIT Media Lab, Sloan Business School, and the Institute for Data, Systems, and Society (IDSS). Prof. Pentland is also the director of the Trusted Data Consortium. Aside from helping create the MIT Media Lab, he was on the Board of the UN Foundations' Global Partnership for Sustainable Development Data, co-led the World Economic Forum discussion in Davos that led to the EU privacy regulation GDPR, was central in forging the transparency and accountability mechanisms in the UN's Sustainable Development Goals, and serves as a member of advisory boards for the UN Secretary General and the UN Foundation.

Cathy Wu

Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering

Research keywords: machine learning, optimization, control theory, multi-agent systems, societal systems, mobility systems, AI, automation

Cathy Wu is an Assistant Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering and an Assistant Professor of the MIT Institute for Data, Systems, and Society (IDSS). She has collaborated with Caltrans, the California Department of Transportation. She was an EECS undergrad and completed an M.Eng at MIT.

P. Christopher Zegras

DUSP

Research keywords: human behavior, digitization, urban mobility

P. Christopher Zegras is the Head of the Department of Urban Studies and Planning and a Professor of Mobility and Urban Planning. He has consulted widely for a diverse range of organizations, including the International Energy Agency, the World Bank, the Inter-American Development Bank, the Canadian, German, US, and Peruvian Governments, and the World Business Council for Sustainable Development. Zegras worked for the International Institute for Energy Conservation in Washington, DC and Santiago de Chile.

Arnold Barnett

Sloan School of Management

Research keywords: statistics, mathematical modeling of health and safety problems, aviation policy

Arnold Barnett is a George Eastman Professor of Management Science and a Professor of Statistics in MIT Sloan. His early work on homicide was presented to President Gerald Ford at the White House. Prof. Barnett has worked with the government on modeling of aviation safety and U.S. casualties in the Vietnam War. In 2002, he received the President’s Citation from the nonprofit Flight Safety Foundation for “truly outstanding contributions on behalf of safety.”

Jinhua Zhao

DUSP

Research keywords: behavioral science, transportation policy, autonomous vehicles, public transit

Jinhua Zhao is an Associate Professor of Transportation and City Planning and Director of the MIT Mobility Initiative. He leads long-term research collaborations with major transportation authorities and operators worldwide, including in London, Chicago, Hong Kong, and Singapore.