PeopleofSuperintelligence

Researcher

Janet Vertesi

Janet Vertesi is a Princeton sociologist whose research examines AI hype and accountability. She earned an MPhil in history and philosophy of science at Cambridge and a PhD in science and technology studies at Cornell, worked in human factors at Intel, and joined Princeton's sociology faculty in 2013. Her books Seeing Like a Rover and Shaping Science trace how NASA teams make scientific knowledge from planetary robotics, and she coedited the digitalSTS fieldguide with David Ribes. She received two book awards from American Sociological Association sections and published a Sociologica paper on automation in a platform firm. She directs Princeton's Program in Design and Societal AI Research Initiative and serves as an associate professor of sociology and Associate Director of the Keller Center.

Works
125
Citations
4,666
h-index
22
Badges

Publication numbers from OpenAlex, as of 27 October 2026.

Timeline

  1. 2002–2009

    A PhD and Intel work

    She earns an MPhil in History and Philosophy of Science at Cambridge in 2002 and a PhD in Science and Technology Studies at Cornell in 2009. In 2005, she works as a human factors engineer in Intel's User Centered Design group.

  2. 2009–2013

    Postdoctoral work at Irvine and Princeton

    She is a postdoctoral researcher at UC Irvine's Donald Bren School of Computer and Information Sciences from 2009 to 2010. From 2010 to 2013, she is a postdoctoral scholar at Princeton's Society of Fellows.

  3. 2013–2020

    Princeton sociology faculty

    She joins Princeton's Department of Sociology as an assistant professor in 2013 and becomes an associate professor in 2020.

  4. 2015

    Seeing Like a Rover

    In her 2015 book Seeing Like a Rover, she traces the decisions behind Mars rover photographs and how the team processes, manipulates, and interprets them.

  5. 2016

    A 2016 ASA book award

    The American Sociological Association's Communication, Information Technology and Media Section gives her its Book Award in 2016.

  6. 2019–2020

    DigitalSTS and Shaping Science

    With David Ribes, she coedits digitalSTS: A Fieldguide for Science and Technology Studies in 2019. Her 2020 book Shaping Science compares two NASA spacecraft missions and examines how team organization shapes scientific practices and results.

  7. 2022

    The 2022 Melvin Pollner Prize

    The American Sociological Association's Ethnomethodology and Conversation Analysis Section awards her the Melvin Pollner Prize in 2022.

  8. 2025–2026

    A platform paper and design roles

    In 2025, she publishes The Ghost of Middle Management, a Sociologica paper on automation, control, and heterarchy in the platform firm. From 2025 into 2026, she directs Princeton's Program in Design and serves as Associate Director of the Keller Center.

  9. 2026

    AI hype and accountability

    In a 2026 article, she and Jason Bohner examine interviews with 37 entrepreneurs, engineers, technologists, and investors in New York's tech scene involved in AI. With danah boyd, Alex Taylor, and Benjamin Shestakofsky, she publishes an ACM FAccT paper in 2026 arguing that meaningful AI accountability requires attention to the political economy of the Project of AI.

  10. 2026–2028

    Princeton Societal AI leadership

    From 2026 to 2028, she directs Princeton's Societal AI Research Initiative within Princeton's AI Lab and Data and Intelligent Systems. She is an associate professor of sociology.

Career

  1. 2026–2028Princeton UniversityDirector, Societal AI Research Initiative
  2. Since 2025Princeton UniversityAssociate Director
  3. Since 2025Princeton UniversityDirector, Program in Design
  4. Since 2020Princeton UniversityAssociate Professor
  5. 2013–2020Princeton UniversityAssistant Professor
  6. 2010–2013Princeton UniversityPostdoctoral Scholar
  7. 2009–2010University of California, IrvinePostdoctoral Researcher
  8. 2005IntelHuman Factors Engineer

Education

  1. 2009Cornell UniversityPhD in Science and Technology Studies
  2. 2002University of CambridgeMPhil in History and Philosophy of Science

From the biography.

Checked career sources: janet.vertesi.com, janet.vertesi.com, dailyprincetonian.com.

Colleagues

People named in this biography, and people with dated positions at the same organization in the same years.

Sources and credits

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  1. Janet Vertesi janet.vertesi.com. Checked 27 October 2026.
  2. Seeing Like a Rover: How Robots, Teams, and Images Craft Knowledge of Mars press.uchicago.edu. Checked 27 October 2026.
  3. Vertesi Research - Digital Studies janet.vertesi.com. Checked 27 October 2026.
  4. Shaping Science: Organizations, Decisions, and Culture on NASA's Teams press.uchicago.edu. Checked 27 October 2026.
  5. Janet Vertesi Research - Automation janet.vertesi.com. Checked 27 October 2026.
  6. All Keller Center staff laid off in first mass termination of academic unit staff in years dailyprincetonian.com. Checked 27 October 2026.
  7. Towards a Socioeconomics of Hype: Hype Dynamics and Symbolic Boundary Work Within the Speculative AI Bubble collaborate.princeton.edu. Checked 27 October 2026.
  8. Reckoning with the Political Economy of AI: Avoiding Decoys in Pursuit of Accountability ischool.berkeley.edu. Checked 27 October 2026.