Author Profile

Dr. Nicol Turner-Lee is a Fellow in the Center for Technology Innovation (CTI) at the Brookings Institution where her research explores public policies aimed at creating equitable access to technology across the U.S. and abroad. She is an expert in global and domestic broadband deployment, regulatory, and legislative telecommunications and internet governance issues. In the area of technology, her work also focuses on machine learning, artificial intelligence, predictive analytics, and algorithms, with a particular focus on their impact on historically disadvantaged consumers and communities. Dr. Turner-Lee’s work also intersects technology with race, civil rights, and social justice to better understand its impacts on certain populations. She also holds a joint fellowship appointment at the Center for Gender Equity in STEM for Women and Girls of Color, located at Arizona State University.

Prior to joining Brookings, Dr. Turner-Lee was the Chief Research and Policy Officer for the Multicultural Media, Telecom, and Internet Council (MMTC), and the first Director of the Media and Technology Institute at the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, both are located in Washington, D.C. She is the author of several pivotal papers and the creator of empirical research on minority broadband adoption. Her most notable work was the development of the first national minority broadband adoption study that was later cited in the congressionally mandated Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) National Broadband Plan. In addition to testifying before Congress on her areas of expertise, she is a regularly sought out speaker at both national and international conferences. She is also the recipient of numerous awards, including being considered one of the Most Inspiring Women in Media or recognized for her promotion of social justice in this space.

Dr. Turner-Lee graduated from Colgate University, and has a M.A. and Ph.D. in Sociology from Northwestern University. She also holds a Certificate in Nonprofit Management from the University of Illinois-Chicago. Dr. Turner-Lee currently serves on the U.S. State Department’s Advisory Committee on International Communications and Information Policy (ACICIP), commissioned under President Obama. She was also appointed to serve on the FCC’s Advisory Committee on Diversity and Digital Empowerment for a two-year term, and on an ad hoc committee as part of the FCC’s Broadband Deployment Advisory Committee (BDAC). She is a director on the boards of several charitable organizations, including the Washington Literacy Center, STEM4US and the Telecommunications Policy Research Conference.

Dr. Turner-Lee's new book, Digitally Invisible: How the Internet is Creating the New Underclass, is scheduled for release in  2019.