President Joe Biden has named Dr. Arati Prabhakar to serve as Director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP).<\/p>\n
Once confirmed to this position, she will become 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.<\/p>\n
Announcing her nomination, President Biden said, “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<\/span>, and innovation to expand our possibilities, solve our toughest challenges, and make the impossible possible.” <\/p>\n As the Senate considers her nomination, Dr. Alondra Nelson will continue to lead OSTP and Dr. Francis Collins will continue to serve as Biden’s acting Science Advisor.<\/p>\n Prabhakar has been the leader of 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.<\/p>\n If confirmed to lead OSTP, Prabhakar would become the third Asian American, Native Hawaiian, or Pacific Islander to serve in President Biden’s Cabinet, joining Vice President Kamala Harris and U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai. The nomination is historic, with Prabhakar being the first woman, immigrant, or person of color nominated to serve as Senate-confirmed director of OSTP.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n Prabhakar served as director of DARPA, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, from 2012 to 2017. <\/p>\n Prabhakar’s family immigrated from India to the United States when she was three years old. <\/p>\n