Irene S. Wu is a senior analyst at the Federal Communications Commission and an expert on the global politics, history, and regulation of communications technology, with publications on telecom regulation in China, politics and technology.

Her current research is to measure soft power in the international system, a project she launched while a fellow at the Wilson Center.Her most recent book, Forging Trust Communities: How Technology Changes Politics (Johns Hopkins 2015), tells the story of how activists and governments around the world use the new tech of the day to get people to work together, from the telegraph to social media.

Her chapter on regulation in China is in Policy, Regulation and Innovation in China’s Electricity and Telecom Industries (Oxford 2019). She is also author of From Iron Fist to Invisible Hand: the Uneven Path of Telecommunications Policy Reform in China (Stanford 2009).

From 2011-2012 she was research director of the White House Task Force on Smart Disclosure which made recommendations on how US government data can be made more useful for consumers. Dr. Wu began teaching at Georgetown University in the Communications, Culture, and Technology master’s program in 2007. She received her B.A. from Harvard University and Ph.D. in International Relations from Johns Hopkins University’s School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS), with additional studies undertaken at the National Taiwan Normal University, University of Puerto Rico, and the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences in Beijing, China.