US President Joe Biden on Tuesday nominated Indian American Dr Aarti Prabhakar as the next White House science adviser as his administration aims to leverage science, technology, and innovation.
Biden said that Dr Prabhakar is a magnificent physicist who will give rise to the Office of Science and Technology Policy in utilising science, technology, and advancement to expand all possible outcomes, and solve our greatest challenges. She will also be the President’s Assistant for Science and Technology if affirmed.
Dr Prabhakar will be the President’s Chief Advisor for Science and Technology, a part of the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology, and a supporter of the President’s Cabinet in this potential. Furthermore, if affirmed to lead OSTP, Prabhakar would then become President Biden’s third Asian American, Native Hawaiian, or Pacific Islander Cabinet member, joining Vice President Kamala Harris and US Trade Spokesperson Katherine Tai.
Prabhakar was the first woman to be uniformly confirmed by the Senate to lead the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). She later became the director of the defence Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), the initiative of ground-breaking technologies such as jet technology and the Web.
President Biden aims to appoint Dr Arati Prabhakar as Director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy, according to Indian American Impact (OSTP).
“We appreciate the President for his historic judgement, which will lift all South Asians and Asian Americans who aim to achieve new heights and become rulers in the science community, along with Dr Prabhakar,” said Neil Makhija of the Indian American Impact Fund. As we celebrate Immigrant Historic Month this June, it’s unbelievable to see the President appoint Dr Prabhakar to be the first woman, the first person of colour, and the first immigrant to guide OSTP,” said Varun Nikore, executive director of AAPI Victory Alliance.
Dr Prabhakar has previously led two different federal R&D agencies and collaborated with start-ups, large corporations, universities, government labs, and non-profits across a wide range of industries to develop powerful new solutions to critical challenges. She is a management and leadership expert with a background in engineering and applied physics.
Prabhakar served DARPA as director from 2012 to 2017.
She took charge of teams at DARPA that developed and tested a system for detecting nuclear and radiological substances before a terrorist could build a bomb created tools to find human smuggling connections in the deep and dark web and enabled complex military systems to work together even when they were not intended to do so. According to the White House, she also established a new office to promote innovatively
biomaterials. Under her leadership, DARPA initiated the development of a rapid-response mRNA vaccine platform, allowing for the fastest secure and reliable vaccine development in world history in responding to COVID-19, according to the agency.
Prabhakar’s family came from India to the United States when she was three years old, first to Chicago and then, when she was ten, to Lubbock, Texas, where she completed her electrical engineering from Texas Tech University. She was the first female to receive a PhD in applied physics from the California Institute of Technology, where she also received an MS in electrical engineering.
She began her regulatory career as a Congressional Colleague at the Office of Technology Assessment.