Dr. Jay Aronson

Biography

Jay Aronson is the founder and director of the Center for Human Rights Science at Carnegie Mellon University. He is a Professor in the Department of History with a focus on Science, Technology, and Society. His research and teaching explore the interactions between science, technology, law, media, and human rights within various contexts. In recent years, he has concentrated on deaths in law enforcement custody within the United States. His book "Death in Custody: How America Ignores the Truth and What We Can Do about It" (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2023) co-authored with Dr. Roger Mitchell, Jr., examines historical efforts to counteract government ignorance on this critical issue and proposes practical solutions for the lack of data on people who die in custody each year. Aronson is also interested in leveraging digital evidence, particularly video, for human rights investigations and actively collaborates with computer scientists and human rights practitioners to develop tools for acquiring, authenticating, analyzing, and archiving human rights media. His previous works delve into the ethical, political, and social dimensions of post-conflict and post-disaster identification of the missing and disappeared, with significant publications such as "Owns Dead? Science Politics Death Ground Zero" (Harvard University Press, 2016) and "Genetic Witness" (Rutgers University Press, 2007). He received his Ph.D. in History of Science and Technology from the University of Minnesota and has been a pre- and post-doctoral fellow at Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government.

Research Interests