Keynotes
Big ideas, deep history, and a clear argument tailored to the moment and audience.
Speaking & Engagement
Bring the hard questions into the room.
Keynotes, executive conversations, workshops, panels, and media engagements that connect history, institutional strategy, and the stakes of emerging technology.
Engagement Formats
Designed for the room you have.
Executive Conversations
Focused, candid dialogue for senior leaders navigating AI, inclusion, institutional change, and public trust.
Panels & Public Programs
Moderated conversations, university programs, conferences, and cross-sector gatherings.
Workshops, Briefings & Convenings
Interactive sessions that move from framing the problem to examining concrete institutional choices.
Selected Engagements · 2020–2026
Ideas in public. Across formats.
Recent work spans major research conferences, university lectures, executive forums, public programs, and cross-sector convenings.
Discuss an Engagement ↘Selected Format
Keynotes
Signature talks connecting technology, racial justice, public interest, and institutional responsibility.
· Montréal, Canada
ACM FAccT 2026 Featured Keynote
Ninth annual Association for Computing Machinery Conference on Fairness, Accountability, and Transparency.
· San Jose State University
How PIT Principles Can Shape the Future of Artificial Intelligence
Public Interest Technology University Network Annual Summit, with Priya Kannan of San Jose State University.
· Duke University School of Law
AI & Marginalized Groups
Keynote on the consequences of artificial intelligence for marginalized communities.
· Oklahoma City Community College
Responsible AI in Education Conference
Keynote for Poieto, Inc. and Oklahoma City Community College.
· Digital Good Network
Digital Good, Enough?
Keynote for the UK Economic and Social Research Council’s Digital Good Network.
· North Central College
25th Annual Rall Symposium for Student Research
Keynote for the college’s annual celebration of student scholarship.
· University of Toronto
Black Software: Retrospect & Prospect
Annual Franklin Lecture.
· Simon Fraser University
Discrimination in Digital Advertising Targeting
Keynote for the Digital Democracies Institute.
· Computers & Writing Conference
Black Software
Conference keynote and book talk.
· AARP
Black Software
Keynote and book talk.
· UMass Amherst
How to Make Technology Anti-Racist
Department of Communication Annual Lecture.
· University of Toronto Faculty of Law
Space, Place & Infrastructure
Annual Grafstein Lecture on racial targeting, digital marketing, and advertising technology.
· Cadence Design Systems
Diversity in the Tech Industry
Keynote for Rise Equity, Inc. and Cadence Design Systems.
· Smithsonian Institution
Black Innovators and the Origins of the Internet
Keynote for the Lemelson Center for the Study of Invention and Innovation.
· Carnegie Mellon University
Dreams of (Black) Tech Futures Past
Keynote for the Human-Computer Interaction Institute.
· University of Michigan
Smash the Mainframe
The collision between civil rights and computing.
· Stanford University
Reboot: Black Software
Keynote for the Stanford Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence Lab.
· Prudential
Race, Technology & the Digital Divide
Keynote for the LCBE Town Hall.
· MIT Technology Review
Addressing Race & Technology
Keynote at the EmTech virtual conference.
· National Mortgage News
Rooting Out Racial Bias in Your Technology
Keynote for the Digital Mortgage Conference.
Selected Format
Executive Conversations
Focused fireside exchanges that bring public leadership, policy, and technology into direct conversation.
· Center for Critical Race & Digital Studies
Convening Fireside Chat
Moderator with Kristin N. Johnson, Commissioner, U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission, and Catherine Powell, Senior Adviser, White House Gender Policy Council.
· Penn State University
Race, Data & Ethics in Technology
Keynote fireside chat for the Institute for Computational and Data Sciences.
Selected Format
Panels & Public Programs
Moderated and participant roles in public conversations across higher education, technology, policy, and culture.
· Howard University
Dissecting the Double-Edged Sword of AI & Tech
International Writers Festival panel with Simone Browne of the University of Texas, Gloria Washington of Howard University, and Tiara Tanksley.
· San Jose State University
Investing in the Future of Public Interest Technology
Panel moderator at the Public Interest Technology University Network Annual Summit, with San Jose State President Cynthia Teniente-Matson, UCLA professor Safiya Noble, and Ford Foundation President Darren Walker.
· Zócalo Public Square
How Has Computer Code Shaped Humanity?
Panel with Torie Bosch of Slate’s Future Tense, Ethan Zuckerman of UMass Amherst, and Nonny de la Peña of Arizona State University.
· Stanford Digital Innovation Review
Redefining Power
Panel on public interest technology with Jenny Toomey of the Ford Foundation, Hana Schank of New America, and Divya Siddarth of Microsoft and RadicalxChange Foundation.
· A Better Tech
Building Equity in Public Interest Technology
Keynoted panel at the Public Interest Technology Convention & Career Fair, with Alondra Nelson, then director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy.
· The Social Dilemma
The Democracy Dilemma
Panel on social media, disinformation, and election integrity.
Selected Format
Workshops, Briefings & Convenings
Small-group and cross-sector sessions focused on evidence, institutional choices, and responsible innovation.
· WGU Labs
Shaping Prosperity
Convening participant examining postsecondary learning in an AI future.
· New York Academy of Sciences
Responsible Innovation in Generative AI
Convening participant with the New York Academy of Sciences, Arizona State University, and Meta.
· Washington, D.C.
US–UK Scientific Forum on Researcher Access to Data
Forum participant in a Royal Society and U.S. National Academy of Sciences program examining access to public, government, research, and privately held data.
· Washington, D.C.
Science, Engineering, and Technology Equity Roundtable
Invited participant in a two-day National Academies planning meeting focused on evidence-based approaches to advancing equity across the science, engineering, and technology ecosystem.
Core Topics