Introducing the Stanford PIT Lab Policy Series
Stanford’s PIT Lab is an interdisciplinary student-led organization focused on building a thoughtful community around public interest technology at Stanford. The Policy team at the PIT Lab, led by Stanford seniors Lauren Nolen and Jake Adams, will be regularly publishing pieces exploring pressing policy questions in the tech space. Over the next couple months, the team will be focusing on racial justice and technology.
Inspiration for the project
As the influence of tech companies has grown, there has been increasing public concern over how technology can both exacerbate and alleviate societal inequities. This is borne out of a recognition that these tools and platforms often prioritize shareholder returns, which is not always aligned with a positive impact on society. This team aims to help bridge this gap by exploring the steps that governments, businesses, and other institutions can take to ensure that technology is built with all people in mind, especially those who are at greater risk of being harmed by technological development. Every quarter, the team will spotlight one critical issue at the nexus of tech and the public good, with a specific focus on racial and economic justice. Over the course of ten weeks, we will explore this issue by researching current policies and conducting interviews with experts in the field. We will leverage these findings to produce a list of concrete recommendations for stakeholders.”
Goals of the project
The Policy team’s series will seek to find forward-looking solutions and insights. Each quarter-length series will culminate in a piece discussing the legislative, regulatory, and corporate implications of our research. The Policy team hopes to further the Stanford PIT Lab’s broader goals of fostering interdisciplinary discussions on tech policy and deep, meaningful discourse on diversity and equity in the tech community.
Introducing Jake and Lauren
Jake Adams is a senior majoring in economics. Jake is interested in finding new ways technology can further social justice and exploring how tech policy can be reshaped for the public good. He previously interned in investment banking but realized his passion was public policy and advocacy, and so he spent this past summer organizing for the 2020 election. He plans to pursue postgraduate work in political advocacy and eventually attend law school. Currently, he is involved in local political campaigns in his hometown of Coral Springs, Florida. Jake loves to travel, and spent a full quarter studying and practicing his Spanish in Madrid during his junior year. In his spare time, Jake loves going to concerts and hanging out with his friends.
Lauren Nolen is a senior majoring in Earth systems, with a concentration in human environmental systems. In her role as Co-VP of Policy, Lauren is exploring the role of government and policy in solving some of society’s biggest issues. Her core interest in interdisciplinary problem-solving has led to involvement in a variety of fields, from national climate change policy to gender advocacy. She believes that technological advancements are major through line in these topics, posing both an enormous asset if used properly and a significant challenge if used improperly or inequitably. As a result, Lauren is thrilled to be spending this year looking at how technology can be leveraged for the common good. In her spare time, Lauren enjoys indoor cycling on her Peloton and reading presidential biographies.
Contributing writers
The Policy team is made up of six additional PIT Lab members. These include seniors Anna Ekholm, Lucas Hornsby, juniors Kyla Windley, Edith Pan, and freshmen Sasha Ronaghi and Linda Tong. This dynamic, intellectually diverse team will collaborate on each article, but members will take on the extra responsibility of leading the charge for the topics most interesting and important to them.
Final thoughts
The Policy team at Stanford’s PIT Lab cannot cover every topic or issue, and surely cannot get to concrete, perfect solutions on everything. This blog will delve into pressing questions about tech policy, often culminating in actionable solutions and recommendations. However, Lauren and Jake hope that wherever the team falls short of fully solving a problem at hand, at the very least a conversation is started among the tech community, both at Stanford and within the broader tech space.
The core articles will be released every other week (starting the week of 10/25). The team will publish plenty of smaller posts in the meantime on various issues. Follow the Stanford PIT Lab’s Policy team on Medium to be notified when the first post is published.
You can contact Lauren Nolen at lnolen@stanford.edu and Jake Adams at jadams3@stanford.edu
