Emily Backes

Emily Backes is senior program director, Science and Technology Policy and Law at the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM). She also serves as the director for the Committee on Law and Justice (CLAJ). In her time at NASEM, she also led the Societal Experts Action Network, which spearheaded NASEM’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic, linking experts from the social and behavioral sciences to decision makers grappling with the crisis. She has directed or provided substantive support to numerous NASEM projects on topics such as early relational health, child and adolescent development, early care and education, child poverty, maternal health, recidivism and crime trends, juvenile justice reform, policing, forensic science, illicit markets, and science literacy and communication. She received an M.A. in history from the University of Missouri, and a J.D. from the University of the District of Columbia.