Eleni Manis, PHD, MPA - Research Director

Eleni Manis is Research Director at S.T.O.P., where she has led the organization’s research program since 2020.  Eleni sets S.T.O.P.’s research agenda and directs the work of the research team, which has produced over 30 reports documenting how mass governmental surveillance threatens privacy and civil rights, particularly for marginalized communities.  Her work covers surveillance technology (including facial recognition, gunshot detection, and drones); surveillance databases (including DNA and gang databases); and how police share and purchase data to defy constitutional limits on government spying.

Before joining S.T.O.P., Eleni worked on government technology policy at the NYC Mayor's Office of the Chief Technology Officer and the NYC Mayor's Office of Operations, where she conducted research for the nation's first automated decision systems task force. She began her career as an Assistant Professor of Philosophy at Franklin & Marshall College, focused on justice in democracies.  Eleni earned her PhD in philosophy from the University of Michigan–Ann Arbor, MPA from NYU’s Wagner School, and BA from Dartmouth College.