Susan Silbey

Susan Silbey is the Leon and Anne Goldberg Humanities Professor at MIT's School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences, holding joint appointments in Sociology and Anthropology. She previously served as Head of the Department of Anthropology and has held roles at Wellesley College. Her research focuses on the social organization of law, legal consciousness, science and technology studies, and engineering education. Silbey's work bridges ethnography, sociology, and legal theory, examining how law interacts with everyday life, scientific practices, and institutional structures.

Education: PhD in Political Science from the University of Chicago (1978), post-graduate training in ethnography at Brandeis University. Notable awards include the Guggenheim Fellowship (2009), Harry Kalven Jr. Prize, and Doctor Honoris Causa from Ecole Normale Supérieure (2006). She has led major projects like 'Safe Science: Governing Green Laboratories' and 'Developing Diverse Leadership for Engineering,' exploring regulatory frameworks in science and educational equity.

Her research on legal consciousness, including the seminal work *The Common Place of Law*, highlights how individuals perceive and engage with legal systems. Current projects analyze law in scientific labs and longitudinal studies of engineering education. Silbey has authored over 100 publications, edited journals like *Law & Society Review*, and supervised numerous doctoral students.