Sam Weiss Evans

Sam Weiss Evans is a Research Fellow with the Program for Science, Technology, and Society at the Harvard Kennedy School and a Research Associate John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences. Sam is involved in many aspects of the work of the Program, and his current projects include research on security governance of science and emerging technology, and methods for STS researchers to engage with engineers and scientists on the social and political aspects of very early stage research. He is also the Project Coordinator for the Trust in Science project (in collaboration with the Harvard Data Science Initiative)

Sam’s work focuses on how areas of science and technology are or are not considered to be security concerns for states. This involves analyzing the processes whereby states become concerned and act to alleviate those concerns, and also analyzing who has a say in these processes. At the heart of this work is the way that areas of science and technology are coproduced with the social orders around the concept of security. Sam’s topical areas of focus include synthetic biology, cybersecurity technologies, and conventional dual-use technologies. He has studied several governance mechanisms, including national and international export control systems, federal funding and publishing guidelines, and ‘bottom-up’ security measures developed by scientists and their related communities.

Sam holds a double B.A. in Philosophy and Physics from St. Olaf College and a M.Sc. in Management Research from Oxford University. He completed his D.Phil. in 2009 at Oxford University under the supervision of Prof. Steve Rayner, where he studied the international processes whereby states modify export control lists for ‘dual-use’ goods and technologies, e.g. those that have both military and non-military uses. From 2009-2011, he was a Postdoctoral Fellow jointly with the Harvard STS Program and the Harvard School for Engineering and Apllied Sciences. From 2011-2014, he was the Associate Director for Research for the University of California, Berkeley’s Center for Science, Technology, Medicine, & Society.