Faculty & Staff

Jay Aronson
Rank: Assistant Professor
Ph.D.: University of Minnesota, 2003
Department Member Since: 2004

Office: BH 240
Carnegie Mellon University
Pittsburgh, PA 15213
Phone: 412.268.2887
Email: aronson@andrew.cmu.edu

Jay Aronson's research and teaching focus on the legal and political history of biotechnology. His work examines the use of genetic identification technologies in criminal justice and post-conflict resolution contexts. He is currently writing a book on the development of forensic DNA analysis, and is completing a project on the constitutional implications of DNA-based post-conviction exonerations in the United States. His next research project will examine how advances in forensic science and technology (especially genetic identification techniques) have affected the investigation of genocide and war crimes since the emergence of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948. Dr. Aronson's other academic interests include: the role of democratic deliberation in science policy decision-making; the place of science and technology in economic and social development; and concepts of private and public property in the life sciences and biotechnology. Dr. Aronson completed his Ph.D. in History of Science and Technology at University of Minnesota in 2003, and received his B.S. in Biology from the University of Michigan in 1995. He was both a Pre-Doctoral (2001-2003) and Post-Doctoral Fellow (2003-2004) in the Program on Science, Technology and Society at Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government.

Publications

Genetic Witness: Science, Law, and Controversy in the Making of DNA Profiling (New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 2007)

“Brain Imaging, Culpability, and the Juvenile Death Penalty,” Psychology, Public Policy, and Law, 2007, 13(2): 115-142.

“The ‘Starch Wars’ and the Early History of DNA Profiling,” Forensic Science Review, 2006, 18(1): 59-72.

“DNA fingerprinting on trial: the dramatic early history of a new forensic technique,” Endeavour, 2005, 29(3): 126-131.

Review of Philip Kitcher, Science, Truth, and Democracy and Daniel Kleinman (ed.), Science, Technology, and Democracy, in Science, Technology and Human Values, 2003, 28(1): 162-168.

"Molecules and Monkeys: George Gaylord Simpson and the Challenge of Molecular Evolution," History and Philosophy of the Life Sciences, 2002, 24: 441-465.

Close Window