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Assistant Professor of Communication Studies

College of Social Sciences and Humanities, College of Arts, Media and Design

Ryan Ellis’ research and teaching focuses on topics related to communication law and policy, infrastructure politics, and cybersecurity. He is the author of Letters, Power Lines, and Other Dangerous Things: The Politics of Infrastructure Security (Forthcoming from MIT Press, 2020) and the editor (with Vivek Mohan) of Rewired: Cybersecurity Governance (Wiley, 2019). Prior to joining the Department, Ryan held fellowships at the Harvard Kennedy School’s Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs and at Stanford University’s Center for International Security and Cooperation (CISAC). He received a Ph.D. in Communication from the University of California, San Diego.

  • Carnegie Fellow, School of International and Public Affairs, Columbia University (2017-2018)
  • Rita Lloyd Moroney Award for Scholarship on Postal History (2008)

Ryan Ellis. Letters, Power Lines, and Other Dangerous Things: The Politics of Infrastructure Security. MIT Press (Forthcoming March 2020).

Ryan Ellis and Vivek Mohan (eds.) Rewired: Cybersecurity Governance. Wiley, 2019.

Ryan Ellis. “Anatomy of a Failed Intervention: The FCC Revisits Municipal Broadband.” Interventions: Communication Research and Practice. A. Shaw and D.T. Scott, D.T. (eds.). New York: Peter Lang, 2018. 131-142.

Ryan Ellis, Keman Huang, Michael Siegel, Katie Moussouris, and James Houghton. “Fixing a Hole: The Labor Market for Bugs.” New Solutions for Cybersecurity. Howard Shrobe, David L. Shrier, and Alex Pentland (eds). Cambridge: MIT Press, 2018: 129-159.

Ryan Ellis. “Disinfecting the Mail: Disease, Panic, and The Post Office in 19th Century America.” Information & Culture: A Journal of History. 52.4 (2017): 436-461.

Ryan Ellis. “Regulating Cybersecurity: Institutional Learning or a Lesson in Futility?” IEEE Security & Privacy. 12.6 (2014): 48-54.

Ryan Ellis. “The Premature Death of Electronic Mail: The United States Postal Service’s E-COM Program, 1978-1985.” International Journal of Communication. Vol. 7 (2013): 1949-1967.

Faculty Affiliate, Global Resilience Institute, Northeastern University Affiliate, Data & Society Research Institute Member, International Communication Association

Related Schools & Departments

  • Education

    PhD, Communication, University of California, San Diego, 2011
    MA, Communication, University of California, San Diego, 2005
    BA, Communication and Sociology, Boston College, 2002

    Postdoctoral Fellow, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University
    Postdoctoral Fellow, Center for International Security and Cooperation, Stanford University

  • Contact

Ryan’s Colleagues

Max Abrahms

Associate Professor of Political Science

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Amílcar Antonio Barreto

Professor & Chair, Cultures, Societies, and Global Studies; Professor & Interim Director, International Affairs; Professor, Political Science; Affiliated faculty member of Women's Gender and Sexuality Studies; Affiliated faculty member in the School of Public Policy and Urban Affairs

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Barry Bluestone

Russell B. and Andree B. Stearns Trustee Professor Emeritus of Political Economy; Founding Director of the Dukakis Center; Founding Dean of the School of Public Policy and Urban Affairs

Christopher Bosso

Professor of Public Policy and Political Science

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Alan Clayton-Matthews

Associate Professor Emeritus of Economics and Public Policy

William Dickens

University Distinguished Professor of Economics and Public Policy

Joan Fitzgerald

Professor of Public Policy and Urban Affairs

Stephen E. Flynn

Professor of Political Science; Founding Director, Global Resilience Institute

James Alan Fox

Lipman Family Professor of Criminology, Law, and Public Policy

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Brian Helmuth

Professor of Environmental Science and Public Policy

Timothy Hoff

Professor of Management, Healthcare Systems and Public Policy

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In Memoriam William Kay

Associate Professor of Political Science

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David Lazer

University Distinguished Professor of Political Science and Computer Sciences

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Dietmar Offenhuber

Associate Professor of Public Policy and Urban Affairs and Art + Design

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Kwamina Panford

Emeritus Associate Professor of Cultures, Societies and Global Studies