Rachel Parker is a former research fellow at the Center for Nanotechnology in Society, where she worked on a comparative project investigating Nanotechnology Policy in China and the United States, from 2006 to 2010. As a recipient of the National Science Foundation East Asia and Pacific Summer Institute Fellowship, Parker spent three months conducting interviews on nanotechnology R&D in China and Taiwan. Her focus was on how nano and other emerging technologies can be used to harness equitable development and environmental remediation.

Parker received a bachelor’s degree in sociology from Brandeis University and a master’s degree in management of nongovernmental organizations from the London School of Economics. She received a Ph.D. in sociology with an emphasis in global and international studies from the University of California, Santa Barbara.