Professor of Science and Technology Studies at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. A pioneer in her field, she focuses on the role of science and technology in law, politics and modern democracies. She founded and runs the STS programme at Harvard. Previously she was the deputy head of the STS Department at Cornell University. She has been invited to the main universities of Europe, Asia, Australia and the United States. 

Her many distinctions include the Hirschman Prize from the SSRC, the Reimar-Lüst Award from the Humboldt Foundation, a Guggenheim fellowship and an Ehrenkreuz Award from the Austrian government. She is a member of the UK's Royal Academy. She has a bachelor's degree, a JD and a doctorate from Harvard University and honorary PhDs from the universities of Twente and Liège.