Theresa Harris is the Director of the AAAS Center for Scientific Responsibility and Justice. She leads the Center’s projects on science and the courts and the social responsibilities of scientists, including coordinating science briefings for judges and the National Conference of Lawyers and Scientists, a joint committee with the American Bar Association.
Since she joined AAAS in 2011, Ms. Harris’s activities have included managing the AAAS On-call Scientists initiative, co-authoring publications on the use of scientific evidence in international courts, organizing and facilitating numerous conferences and workshops, and serving as editor for AAAS reports on topics at the intersections of science, law, and human rights. She frequently speaks and writes on scientific evidence in litigation and the societal impacts of emerging science and technology.
Prior to joining AAAS, Ms. Harris represented survivors of human rights violations in U.S. and international legal systems. She is an advisor to the ABA Task Force on Artificial Intelligence and Law. She has served on the ABA Atrocities Prevention Committee and the Board of Directors of Amnesty International USA. She is a Fellow of the American Bar Foundation.
Ms. Harris earned a B.A. in anthropology from Florida State University a M.Sc. in land use planning from the University of Tennessee-Knoxville, and a J.D. from the American University Washington College of Law, where she was a Public Interest/Public Service Law Scholar. She is licensed to practice law in Maryland and the District of Columbia.