Shira Zilberstein

Postdoctoral Research Associate

Center for Information Technology Policy

Princeton University

I am a sociologist who studies the moral and organizational dimensions of knowledge production, with a focus on how science and technology are used to define and address social problems. I am currently a postdoctoral fellow at the Center for Information Technology Policy at Princeton University and affiliated with the Princeton Societal AI Initiative. I completed a PhD in sociology at Harvard University in 2026.

My research agenda broadly foregrounds the changing structures of scientific and technical production and how knowledge gains authority as it crosses institutional boundaries. I primarily draw on and remain committed to qualitive modes of inquiry.

Currently, I am researching interdisciplinary collaborations in applied AI, specifically the development and governance of machine learning models for healthcare. Drawing on interviews, ethnography, and document analysis, I show how researchers and practitioners moralize AI innovation as central to solving societal problems, even amid uncertainty and contested outcomes. In related work, I analyze how organizations seeking to govern AI establish standards and evaluative frameworks for responsible development and deployment, and how governance efforts unfold under conditions of uncertainty and evolving regulatory and institutional expectations. I am particularly interested in how research and practitioner communities grapple with the limits of technological solutions while sustaining enduring commitments to innovation as a mode of social intervention. You can read a feature article about some of my research here.

In other projects, I have studied knowledge production and collective action across digital platforms, legal institutions, and cultural fields.

I earned a B.A. in Sociology and History at Northwestern University and an A.M. in Sociology and a PhD in Sociology at Harvard University where I was also a Science and Technology Studies Fellow. My research has been supported by the National Science Foundation, the American Sociological Association, the Russell Sage Foundation, the Knight Foundation, and the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine among others. Beyond my scholarship, I have collaborated with researchers at MIT, Duke, and Yale on projects related to the development and governance of healthcare AI.

Publications

Zilberstein, S. 2026, “Jurisdictional Gerrymandering: The Authority of Problems without Solutions.” Social Problems, spag04. https://doi.org/10.1093/socpro/spag024.

Hasan, A., N. Prizant, J.Y. Kim, S. Rao, D. Vidal, K. Shaw, D. Tobey, A. Valladares, Zilberstein, S., M. Patel, S. Balu, M. Sendak, and M. Lifson. 2025. “Aligning AI Principles and Healthcare Delivery Organization Best Practices to Navigate the Shifting Regulatory Landscape.” npj Digital Medicine, 8. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41746-025-01605-2.

Zilberstein, S.,Sanchez, M., Ayala-Hurtado, E. and D. Robey. 2024. “The Self in Action: Narrating Agentic Moments.” RSF: The Russell Sage Foundation Journal of the Social Sciences. 10(5): 118–40. https://doi.org/10.7758/RSF.2024.10.5.05.

Zilberstein, S. 2024. "Ethical Dilemmas and Collaborative Resolutions in Machine Learning Research for Healthcare.” Socius, 10. https://doi.org/10.1177/23780231241259671.

Zilberstein, S. 2024. “Models of Generating Cultural Authority: Academics and Journalists on a Digital Platform.” Poetics, 102. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.poetic.2024.101871

Boag, W., A. Hasan, J.Y. Kim, M. Revoir, M. Nichols, W. Ratliff, S. Zilberstein, C.O'Brien, D. Tart, J. Theiling, M.A. Fuchs, T. Brown, Z. Samad, Z. Hoodbhoy, M. Ali, N.S. Khan, M. Gao, M. Patel, S. Balu, Dr Mark Sendak. 2024. "The Algorithm Journey Map: A tangible approach to Implementing AI solutions in Healthcare.” npj Digital Medicine. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41746-024-01061-4.

Zilberstein, S., Lamont, M., and M. Sanchez. 2023. "Recreating a Plausible Future: Combining Cultural Repertoires in Unsettled Times.” Sociological Science 10. https://sociologicalscience.com/articles-v10-11-348/

Zilberstein, S. 2022. ”Developing Artificial Intelligence For Good: Interdisciplinary Research Collaborations and the Making of Ethical AI.” In Proceedings of the 2022 AAAI/ACM Conference on AI, Ethics, and Society (AIES’22), August 1–3, 2022, Oxford, United Kingdom. ACM, New York, NY, USA. https://dl.acm.org/doi/pdf/10.1145/3514094.3539516

Sanchez, M., M. Lamont, and S. Zilberstein. 2022. ”How American College Students Understand Social Resilience during Covid and the Movement for Racial Justice: Toward a Processual Approach.” Social Science and Medicine. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277953622001964

Halliday, T., S. Zilberstein and W. Espeland. 2021. “Basic Legal Freedoms: An International Legal Complex and the Deviant Case of China.” Annual Review of Law and Social Science 17(1). https://www.annualreviews.org/doi/abs/10.1146/annurev-lawsocsci-111620-013613

Zilberstein, S. 2019. “Space Making as Artistic Practice: The Relationship between Grassroots Art Organizations and the Political Economy of Urban Development.” City and Community 18(4): 1142-1161. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1111/cico.12458

In progress

Zilberstein, S. "Beyond Corporate Solutionism: The Articulation Bind in Healthcare AI Research Labs."

Zilberstein, S. and Liu, C. “Rethinking Technological Failure.”

Report abuse