Laura DeNardis

Laura DeNardis, Ph.D., is the inaugural endowed Chair in Technology, Ethics, and Society in Georgetown University’s College of Arts and Sciences. She holds appointments as Professor in the department of Communication, Culture and Technology and Research Professor in the Center for Digital Ethics. Professor DeNardis serves as a member of the steering committee of the Georgetown Initiative on Technology & Society and Director of the interdisciplinary undergraduate program in Technology, Ethics, and Society.

Professor DeNardis is recognized as a leading Internet governance expert in both the United States and the world. Wired UK recently named her one of “32 Global Innovators Who are Building a Better Future” and her book The Internet in Everything: Freedom and Security in a World with No Off Switch (Yale University Press) was recognized as a Financial Times Top Technology Book of 2020. Among her seven books, The Global War for Internet Governance (Yale University Press), is widely considered the definitive source for understanding power struggles over technical infrastructure. Some of her other books include Opening Standards: The Global Politics of Interoperability (MIT Press 2011); Protocol Politics: The Globalization of Internet Governance (MIT Press 2009); and Researching Internet Governance (MIT Press 2020).

DeNardis joined Georgetown from American University, where she served as Professor, Faculty Director of the Internet Governance Lab, Associate Dean for Faculty Affairs, and also Interim Dean of the School of Communication for two years. In 2018 she received American University’s highest faculty honor, Scholar-Teacher of the Year. She previously served as the Executive Director of the Yale Information Society Project and the appointed Director of Research for the Global Commission on Internet Governance. She also served as an appointed member of the State Department’s Advisory Committee on International Communications and Information Policy and is a Member of the Council on Foreign Relations.

Professor DeNardis holds an AB in Engineering Science from Dartmouth College, an MEng from Cornell University, a PhD in Science and Technology Studies from Virginia Tech, and was awarded a postdoctoral fellowship from Yale Law School.