Christopher Ali | Pioneers Chair In Telecommunications
Penn State University

Dr. Christopher Ali is the Pioneers Chair in Telecommunications and Professor of Telecommunications in the Bellisario College of Communications at Penn State. He holds a Ph.D. in communication studies from the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Pennsylvania (2013). An acknowledged national expert on broadband deployment, policy and planning, he is the author of the book Farm Fresh Broadband: The politics of rural connectivity (MIT Press, 2023). Based on his expertise, Dr. Ali was called to testify before the US Senate Commerce Committee in 2021 on broadband funding and policy programs. He has also briefed members of the House Democrats Task Force on Rural Broadband, the New York State Blue Ribbon Commission on Re-Imagining New York, the Federal Communications Commission, and has presented before numerous state and county governments. In addition to his academic writing which is published in several high impact peer-reviewed journals, his writing on broadband and communication policy has been published in The New York Times, The Hill, Realtor Magazine, Law & Political Economy, Digital Beat, GovTech, Zocalo Public Square, Washington Monthly, Columbia Journalism Review, and The Conversation. Presenty, Dr. Ali is working on a new book, tentatively titled If these maps could talk: Tales from the digital divide about how community-based stories can influence digital equity policies.