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SCREEN CAPTURE / STARTALK Dr. Arati Prabhakar picked to lead Office of Science and Technology Policy |
In an historic choice, President Biden is choosing Dr. Arati Prabhakar to serve as Director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP).
The nomination announced by Biden today is historic, with Prabhakar being the first woman, immigrant, or person of color nominated to serve as Senate-confirmed director of OSTP.
“Dr. Prabhakar is a brilliant and highly-respected engineer and applied physicist and will lead the Office of Science and Technology Policy to leverage science, technology, and innovation to expand our possibilities, solve our toughest challenges, and make the impossible possible,” says President Biden.
“I share Dr. Prabhakar’s belief that America has the most powerful innovation machine the world has ever seen. As the Senate considers her nomination, I am grateful that Dr. Alondra Nelson will continue to lead OSTP and Dr. Francis Collins will continue to serve as my acting Science Advisor.”
The OSTP is becoming one of the most critical and high-profile federal agencies in modern times having to deal with rapidly spreading viruses like COVID-19, spurring efforts to stem climate change, fighting the attempts by foreign countries and domestic terrorists from spreading misinformation on the internet and persuading Silicon Valley to put limits on individuals' and groups' attempts to spur violence and and hate.
If confirmed to lead OSTP, Prabhakar would become the third Asian American, Native Hawaiian, or Pacific Islander to serve in Biden’s Cabinet, joining Vice President Kamala Harris and U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai.
Once confirmed to this position, also as Assistant to the President for Science and Technology. In this capacity, Dr. Prabhakar will be the President’s Chief Advisor for Science and Technology, a co-chair of the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology, and a member of the President’s Cabinet.
The 63-year-old Prabhakar would take over the post held by Eric Lander, who resigned Feb. 7 after admitting to bullying his staff and creating a hostile work environment during his 9 months in office.
Although she will need Senate confirmation to become OSTP director—which could take months—Prabhakar can immediately take the science adviser post. That would give her a role in addressing several thorny science policy issues, including how best to position the United States to compete with China, implement workable rules for protecting U.S.-funded academic research from theft, and reduce inequality in the research community.
Rep. Judy Chu, chair of the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus, said she was "thrilled to see a South Asian American woman joining the President’s Cabinet."
"Dr. Prabhakar, a talented physicist and engineer, is well-equipped to help our nation solve current and emerging scientific challenges," says Chu. "When she is confirmed, she will be the first woman, immigrant and person of color to serve in this role, making this nomination not just a phenomenal choice, but one of historical significance as well.
"As the Chair of CAPAC, I look forward to continuing the caucus’ close work with OSTP under Dr. Prabhakar’s leadership on issues related to targeting of Asian American researchers, as well as ways to streamline the federal grant application process.," says Chu.
Prabhakar has been unanimously confirmed by the Senate before, to lead the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), and was the first woman to hold that role. She later served as director of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), the birthplace of breakthrough technologies like stealth aircraft and the Internet.
Dr. Arati Prabhakar has led two different federal R&D agencies and worked with startups, large companies, universities, government labs, and nonprofits across a wide variety of sectors to create powerful new solutions for critical challenges. She is an engineer and applied physicist with extensive management and leadership credentials.
Prabhakar served as director of DARPA, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, from 2012 to 2017. At DARPA, she oversaw teams that prototyped a system for detecting nuclear and radiological materials before a terrorist can build a bomb, that developed tools to find human trafficking networks in the deep and dark web, and that enabled complex military systems to work together even when they were not originally designed to do so.
The 63-year-old Prabhakar would take over the post held by Eric Lander, who resigned Feb. 7 after admitting to bullying his staff and creating a hostile work environment during his 9 months in office.
Although she will need Senate confirmation to become OSTP director—which could take months—Prabhakar can immediately take the science adviser post. That would give her a role in addressing several thorny science policy issues, including how best to position the United States to compete with China, implement workable rules for protecting U.S.-funded academic research from theft, and reduce inequality in the research community.
Rep. Judy Chu, chair of the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus, said she was "thrilled to see a South Asian American woman joining the President’s Cabinet."
"Dr. Prabhakar, a talented physicist and engineer, is well-equipped to help our nation solve current and emerging scientific challenges," says Chu. "When she is confirmed, she will be the first woman, immigrant and person of color to serve in this role, making this nomination not just a phenomenal choice, but one of historical significance as well.
"As the Chair of CAPAC, I look forward to continuing the caucus’ close work with OSTP under Dr. Prabhakar’s leadership on issues related to targeting of Asian American researchers, as well as ways to streamline the federal grant application process.," says Chu.
Prabhakar has been unanimously confirmed by the Senate before, to lead the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), and was the first woman to hold that role. She later served as director of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), the birthplace of breakthrough technologies like stealth aircraft and the Internet.
Dr. Arati Prabhakar has led two different federal R&D agencies and worked with startups, large companies, universities, government labs, and nonprofits across a wide variety of sectors to create powerful new solutions for critical challenges. She is an engineer and applied physicist with extensive management and leadership credentials.
Prabhakar served as director of DARPA, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, from 2012 to 2017. At DARPA, she oversaw teams that prototyped a system for detecting nuclear and radiological materials before a terrorist can build a bomb, that developed tools to find human trafficking networks in the deep and dark web, and that enabled complex military systems to work together even when they were not originally designed to do so.
She also established a new office to spur novel biotechnologies. Under her leadership, DARPA kick-started the development of a rapid-response mRNA vaccine platform, making possible the fastest safe and effective vaccine development in world history in response to COVID-19.
Prabhakar was unanimously confirmed by the U.S. Senate to lead the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), taking the helm at age 34 as the first woman to lead the agency. At NIST, which she led from 1993 to 1997, she helped take from early seed stage to national scale the Manufacturing Extension Partnership to boost the competitiveness of small- and mid-size manufacturers, and the Advanced Technology Program to stimulate early-stage advanced technology development. She also reinforced NIST’s long-time mission in measurement science and technology that underpins commerce and high-quality manufacturing.
Between her Federal leadership roles, Prabhakar spent 15 years in Silicon Valley, helping bring R&D to deployment as a company executive and as a venture capitalist. Her work included components for consumer electronics and semiconductor process technology. In 2019, she founded Actuate, a non-profit organization bringing new actors to the table to develop solutions to the challenges of climate, health, trustworthy data and information technology, and opening access to opportunity for every person.
Prabhakar’s family immigrated from India to the United States when she was 3-years old – first to Chicago and then settling when she was age 10 in Lubbock, Texas, where she went on to get her electrical engineering degree from Texas Tech University. She was the first woman to earn a Ph.D. in applied physics from the California Institute of Technology, where she also earned an M.S. in electrical engineering.
Prabhakar was unanimously confirmed by the U.S. Senate to lead the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), taking the helm at age 34 as the first woman to lead the agency. At NIST, which she led from 1993 to 1997, she helped take from early seed stage to national scale the Manufacturing Extension Partnership to boost the competitiveness of small- and mid-size manufacturers, and the Advanced Technology Program to stimulate early-stage advanced technology development. She also reinforced NIST’s long-time mission in measurement science and technology that underpins commerce and high-quality manufacturing.
Between her Federal leadership roles, Prabhakar spent 15 years in Silicon Valley, helping bring R&D to deployment as a company executive and as a venture capitalist. Her work included components for consumer electronics and semiconductor process technology. In 2019, she founded Actuate, a non-profit organization bringing new actors to the table to develop solutions to the challenges of climate, health, trustworthy data and information technology, and opening access to opportunity for every person.
Prabhakar’s family immigrated from India to the United States when she was 3-years old – first to Chicago and then settling when she was age 10 in Lubbock, Texas, where she went on to get her electrical engineering degree from Texas Tech University. She was the first woman to earn a Ph.D. in applied physics from the California Institute of Technology, where she also earned an M.S. in electrical engineering.
She started her career in public service in the legislative branch as a Congressional Fellow at the Office of Technology Assessment.
EDITOR'S NOTE: For additional commentary, news and views from an AANHPI perspective, follow @DioknoEd on Twitter.
EDITOR'S NOTE: For additional commentary, news and views from an AANHPI perspective, follow @DioknoEd on Twitter.
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