Lindsay Smith is an Associate Professor of Science, Technology & Innovation in the Borderlands at Arizona State University’s School for the Future of Innovation in Society. Her research explores how scientific technologies, such as genetics, biometrics, and GIS, shape justice and human rights during democratic transitions, particularly in Latin America.
Smith works closely with human rights movements, examining how communities have adapted these technologies to challenge impunity and state violence. She leads the STSborderlands working group, which brings together scholars to interrogate the intersections of science, technology, and colonialism in the Mexican Borderlands.
Her work has been published in Social Studies of Science, Science, Technology & Human Values, and American Anthropologist, among other journals. She is completing a book, Subversive Genes: Making DNA and Human Rights in Latin America, based on ethnographic research with families, scientists, and activists on how genetic technologies have been reshaped for human rights purposes.
Smith is currently the principal investigator of a National Science Foundation CAREER project on hybrid migration technologies that sit at the intersection of surveillance and human rights in the U.S.-Mexico border region.