I am a cultural anthropologist who explores how nuclear organizations implement safety protocols, engage with publics, and extend risk governance across generations and into deep time.

During the Biden Administration, I worked in the U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Nuclear Energy, where I served as Federal Manager for DOE’s Consent-Based Siting Consortia: twelve project teams - drawn from academia, nonprofits, and the private sector - awarded $24m to advance public engagement and build community capacity for siting spent nuclear fuel facilities.

Prior to my federal service, I was MacArthur Assistant Research Professor at George Washington University's Elliott School of International Affairs. I have held fellowships at University of Southern California, University of British Columbia, and Cornell’s Society for the Humanities. I hold a PhD from Cornell University and an MSc from the London School of Economics.

I am currently a Research Associate in Cal Poly Humboldt’s Department of Environmental Studies. My research explores matters of environmental security, energy policy, deep temporality, nuclear expert culture, and military-industrial accident causation. My work has been supported by the U.S. National Science Foundation, the Mellon Foundation, the MacArthur Foundation, N Square Collaborative, and The Berggruen Institute.

I have published with MIT Press, American Ethnologist, Social Studies of Science, Physics Today, Nuclear Technology, Science & Technology Studies, Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, Nature Geoscience, and Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists. My writing has been featured by the BBC, Scientific American, NPR, Science, Forbes, Atlas Obscura, Psyche, Public Radio International, and other outlets.

You can reach me at ialenti@humboldt.edu.