Ashwin Prabu - Junior Board Member

Ashwin Prabu is a recent college graduate passionate about defending the digital rights of immigrants, communities of color, and other marginalized groups. He has experience in AI governance, human rights advocacy, and sociotechnical research through previous internships with the European Center for Not-for-Profit Law (ECNL), the Global Network Initiative (GNI), and the Surveillance Technology Oversight Project (STOP). His honors thesis, “Freedom or Control? Expanding a Relational Understanding of ICE’s Alternatives to Detention Program,” investigates how surveillance technology is used by immigration enforcement, drawing on semi-structured interviews with former ICE agents and ethnographic fieldwork at the San Francisco ICE field office and immigration court. Ashwin has presented his findings to leading digital rights nonprofits (including STOP) to inform their advocacy. His thesis was awarded Stanford's Firestone Medal for Excellence in Undergraduate Research and has recently been cited by The Guardian. In his free time, he enjoys playing tennis, meditating, and making vegan food.

Ashwin graduated from Stanford University with a bachelor's degree in Data Science and Social Systems, a minor in Comparative Studies in Race and Ethnicity (CSRE), interdisciplinary honors in CSRE, university distinction, and membership in Phi Beta Kappa. He is currently based in Washington, D.C.