Marjory S. Blumenthal

Biography

Marjory Blumenthal is a Senior Fellow at ICSI, Senior Policy Researcher (adjunct) at RAND, Senior Policy Fellow at the American Library Association, and Senior Fellow at the Future of Privacy Forum. She also provides consulting in science and technology policy as Principal of MSBlumenthal LLC. 

As a connector of people and ideas and a leader of multi-disciplinary collaborations, Ms. Blumenthal’s research, teaching, and writing focus on the development and societal impacts of emerging technologies, with historic emphases on the evolution of the internet and cybersecurity. She has held leadership roles across various prominent institutions, including as Senior Fellow and Director of the technology and international affairs program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and as Director of the experimental Science, Technology, and Policy Program at the RAND Corporation. She was the Executive Director of the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST) within the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, where she addressed challenges in areas such as healthcare systems engineering, privacy in big data, cybersecurity, education, and urban technology. Earlier in her career, she served as Associate Provost for Academic Affairs at Georgetown University, where she helped shape academic strategy, strengthened scientific research, and promoted innovation across a range of fields. 

Before Georgetown, Ms. Blumenthal was the founding Executive Director of the National Academies’ Computer Science and Telecommunications Board (CSTB). She convened and teamed with technologists, social scientists, and other experts, producing over 60 influential books and reports that addressed the full range of information technologies and their societal impacts. Her final CSTB book, the only one identifying her co-authorship explicitly, was a landmark exploration of creativity at the intersections of computing and the arts that inspired an enduring community. She did her undergraduate work at Brown University and graduate work at Harvard University, both in interdisciplinary programs.

Selected Leadership Activities

• Associate Provost, Academic, at Georgetown University (2003-2013)
• MIT Laboratory for Computer Science (now CSAIL), Visiting Scientist, 1998
• Maryland Connected and Automated Vehicles Working Group participant, 2023-
• U.S. Government Accountability Office, Science, Technology Assessment, and Analytics, Polaris Council, 2020-
• TPRC Internet Policy Research Conference Board of Directors, 2017-
• Quello Center for Telecommunication Management and Law, Advisory Board, 2002- (Chair, 2023-)

Areas of Expertise

• AI Safety, Alignment, and Trustworthiness
• AI for Creativity, Art, Media, and Entertainment
• Computer Networks, Internet Protocols, and Web Infrastructure
• Risk Management, Trust, and Resilient Security Systems
• Smart Cities, IoT Infrastructure, and Urban Computing
• Drones, Robotics, and Autonomous Vehicle Systems
• AI Ethics, Responsible AI, and Governance of Technology
• Technology Policy, Standards, and Global Governance
• Societal Impacts of AI, Automation, and Robotics
• Digital Humanities, Computational Social Science, and Cultural Analytics
• Technology for Social Good: Climate, Equity, Disaster Response
• Workforce, Future of Work, and Economic Impacts of Computing
• Global Digital Inclusion, Access, and Equity
• Open Data, FAIR Data Principles, and Research Transparency
• Collaborative Platforms, Citizen Science, and Crowdsourcing

ICSI Activity