Eleanor Tursman

Senior Researcher, Emerging Technologies, Aspen Digital

Eleanor Tursman's headshot. A person with short hair, wearing glasses and a turtleneck, smiles at the camera.

Eleanor Tursman is a Senior Emerging Technologies Researcher at the Aspen Institute, where they build resources that help policymakers, educators, and the public participate in the governance of emerging technologies. Eleanor was a Siegel Family Endowment Research Fellow from 2022-24.

Prior to joining The Aspen Institute, Eleanor served as a TechCongress fellow in the office of Representative Trahan (D-MA-03), working on protections from data brokers, teen suicide prevention, data privacy, and guardrails for AI use in medical devices and in classrooms. They researched 3D computer vision in graduate school, looking for new ways to approach deepfake detection with a focus on long-term robustness as fake video becomes harder to visually identify. Eleanor also loves teaching others about science—from math with the Girls Get Math program at Brown to computer science at the CS4RI initiative—and thinks that TAing was the most fun part of graduate school.

Eleanor has an M.S. in computer science from Brown University and a B.A. in physics with honors from Grinnell College. They (unsuccessfully) try to contain the boundless energy of their mini australian shepherd Blueberry Pancakes and have won awards for their roleplaying games and larps. 

Read Insights by Eleanor


Two Years of Public AI

We look back on two years of progress in public AI and share what we’ve learned from our engagement in the movement.


What the Winners Have to Say

Here’s what the winners of the 2023 Reporting on AI Hall of Fame have to say about the importance of good writing about AI.