Ruha Benjamin is professor of African American studies at Princeton University and Founding Director of the Ida B. Wells Just Data Lab. She is the author of the award-winning book, “Race After Technology: Abolitionist Tools for the New Jim Code,” and the forthcoming book, “Viral Justice: How We Grow the World We Want,” among other publications. Ruha's work investigates the social dimensions of science, medicine, and technology, with a focus on the relationship between innovation and inequity, health and justice, knowledge and power.
Ruha earned a B.A. in sociology and anthropology from Spelman College, an M.A. and Ph.D. in sociology from University of California, Berkeley, and completed postdoctoral fellowships at UCLA’s Institute for Society & Genetics and Harvard’s Science, Technology & Society Program.
Ruha is the recipient of numerous awards and fellowships, including from the American Council of Learned Societies, National Science Foundation, Marguerite Casey Foundation 2020 Freedom Scholar Award, and the President’s Award for Distinguished Teaching at Princeton.