John P. Nelson

(he/him/his)

3

Articles

3

Comments

I'm a sociologist of science and technology committed to improving the sciences' ability to support and advance public values. At present, I am an assistant professor at Oregon State University, focusing on effects of artificial intelligence on the production, dissemination, and use of knowledge. My research interests include the human processes involved in developing, maintaining, and using knowledge; the governance and societal implications of emerging technologies; and the role of scientific knowledge and expertise in democracy. My research has appeared in academic journals including Research Policy, Minerva, the Journal of Responsible Innovation, and Scientometrics. I was previously a postdoctoral fellow at the Georgia Institute of Technology's Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter School of Public Policy. I received my PhD in Human and Social Dimensions of Science and Technology from Arizona State University's School for the Future of Innovation in Society.

Experience

  • 2025–present
    Assistant Professor, Oregon State University
  • 2023–2025
    Postdoctoral Fellow, Georgia Institute of Technology
  • 2019–2023
    National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellow, Arizona State University
  • 2018–2019
    Graduate Research Assistant, Arizona State University

Education

  • 2023 
    Arizona State University, USA, PhD, Human and Social Dimensions of Science and Technology

Publications

  • 2026
    What Do We Want from AI?, Issues in Science and Technology
  • 2026
    How do science and technology help to address societal problems? A practical typology of contributions, Science and Public Policy
  • 2025
    Advanced Introduction to Innovation and Public Values, Edward Elgar
  • 2025
    Illegible Performance: Constructing Scientific Credibility in the “Post-Truth” Era, Bulletin of Science, Technology & Society
  • 2025
    How Can We Know if You are Serious? Ethics Washing, Symbolic Ethics Offices, and the Responsible Design of AI Systems, Canadian Journal of Philosophy
  • 2024
    Responsible innovation scholarship: normative, empirical, theoretical, and engaged, Journal of Responsible Innovation
  • 2024
    The deformation of democracy in the United States: When does bureaucratic “neutral competence” rise to complicity?, Public Administration Review
  • 2024
    How do academic public administration and policy researchers affect policymaking? Functional groupings from survey data, Scientometrics
  • 2024
    The divide so wide: Public perspectives on the role of human genome editing in the U.S. healthcare system, Public Understanding of Science
  • 2024
    The micro-dynamics of scientific choice: Research project motivations among public affairs academics, Science and Public Policy
  • 2023
    What determines public affairs researchers’ motivations for policy impact? Results from an exploratory study, International Review of Administrative Sciences
  • 2023
    Reports of practitioners’ use of public affairs faculty published research, Studies in Higher Education
  • 2023
    The Last 20 Years of Empirical Research on Government Utilization of Academic Social Science Research: A State-of-the-Art Literature Review, Administration & Society
  • 2023
    Researching the future: Scenarios to explore the future of gene editing, BMC Medical Ethics
  • 2023
    Speaking truth to power…or to the ivory tower? Public affairs researchers’ reports of practitioners’ use of their research, Public Management Review
  • 2023
    Seven open questions in the futures of human genome editing, Futures
  • 2022
    Differential “progressibility” in human know-how: A conceptual overview, Research Policy
  • 2022
    Amplifying the call for anticipatory governance, The American Journal of Bioethics
  • 2021
    Assessing solar geoengineering research funders: Insights from two US public deliberations, The Anthropocene Review
  • 2021
    Public Value Promises and Outcome Reporting in Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy, Minerva
  • 2021
    Toward anticipatory governance of human genome editing: a critical review of scholarly governance discourse, Journal of Responsible Innovation
  • 2020
    Mythic forecasts: researcher portrayals of extraterrestrial life discovery, International Journal of Astrobiology
  • 2019
    Characterizing direct-to-consumer stem cell businesses in the southwest United States, Stem Cell Reports

Contact John for

  • General
  • Media request
  • Speaking request
  • Consulting / Advising
  • Research collaboration
  • Research supervision