The National Information Standards Organization (NISO) has named Alondra Nelson, Harold F. Linder Chair in the School of Social Science at the Institute for Advanced Study, as the recipient of the 2026 Miles Conrad Award. The honor recognizes lifetime achievement in advancing the open exchange of information and commemorates the founder of the National Federation of Abstracting and Indexing Services.
Dr. Nelson will deliver the Miles Conrad Lecture on February 17 during the 2026 NISO Plus conference in Baltimore. Her leadership in the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) includes service as acting director and principal deputy director for science and society. She led initiatives such as the “Blueprint for a Bill of AI Rights” and the policy to make federally funded research publicly accessible.
An influential scholar, Dr. Nelson’s research explores the intersections of race, inequality, and emerging technologies. Her publications include The Social Life of DNA: Race, Reparations, and Reconciliation After the Genome and articles in Science, PLOS Computational Biology, and the American Journal of Public Health. She has been recognized with awards such as the MIT Morison Prize and the NAACP-Archewell Digital Civil Rights Award.
NISO highlighted Dr. Nelson’s contributions to equity, ethics, and responsible innovation as vital to ongoing discussions about scholarly communication and information access. The recognition underscores NISO’s mission to promote collaboration across libraries, publishers, and research communities to strengthen global information standards.
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