US President Joe Biden on Tuesday nominated Indian-American scientist Dr. Arati Prabhakar as Director of the Workplace of Science and Expertise Coverage (OSTP).
If confirmed by the Senate, Dr Prabhakar would make historical past as the primary girl, immigrant, or individual of colour to move OSTP.
“Dr Prabhakar is an excellent and highly-respected engineer and utilized physicist and can lead the Workplace of Science and Expertise Coverage to leverage science, know-how, and innovation to broaden our prospects, remedy our hardest challenges, and make the unattainable doable,” stated Biden.
“I share Dr Prabhakar’s perception that America has essentially the most highly effective innovation machine the world has ever seen. Because the Senate considers her nomination, I’m grateful that Dr. Alondra Nelson will proceed to steer OSTP and Dr. Francis Collins will proceed to function my performing Science Advisor,” he stated.
As soon as confirmed she would even be Assistant to the President for Science and Expertise. On this capability, Dr Prabhakar would be the President’s Chief Advisor for Science and Expertise, a co-chair of the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Expertise, and a member of the President’s Cupboard.
Additional if confirmed to steer OSTP, Prabhakar would turn into the third Asian American, Native Hawaiian, or Pacific Islander to serve in President Biden’s Cupboard, becoming a member of Vice President Kamala Harris and US Commerce Consultant Katherine Tai.
“Immediately’s nomination is historic, with Prabhakar being the primary girl, immigrant, or individual of colour nominated to function Senate-confirmed director of OSTP,” the White Home stated.
Prabhakar has been unanimously confirmed by the Senate earlier than, to steer the Nationwide Institute of Requirements and Expertise (NIST), and was the primary girl to carry that position. She later served as director of the Protection Superior Analysis Tasks Company (DARPA), the birthplace of breakthrough applied sciences like stealth plane and the Web.
Indian People have welcomed the nomination.
“Indian American Influence is thrilled to study that President Biden intends to appoint Dr Arati Prabhakar as Director of the Workplace of Science and Expertise Coverage (OSTP). We applaud the President for his historic determination, which uplifts not solely the exceptionally certified Dr Prabhakar, however all South Asians and Asian People who aspire to succeed in new heights and turn into leaders inside public service and the scientific neighborhood,” stated Neil Makhija from the Indian American Influence Fund.
“It is unimaginable to see the President nominate Dr Prabhakar to be the primary girl, first individual of color, and the primary immigrant to steer OSTP as we observe Immigrant Heritage Month this June,” stated Varun Nikore, govt director of AAPI Victory Alliance.
Thus far, Dr. Prabhakar has led two completely different federal R&D companies and labored with startups, massive corporations, universities, authorities labs, and nonprofits throughout all kinds of sectors to create highly effective new options for essential challenges. She is an engineer and utilized physicist with in depth administration and management credentials.
Prabhakar served as director of DARPA from 2012 to 2017. At DARPA, she oversaw groups that prototyped a system for detecting nuclear and radiological supplies earlier than a terrorist can construct a bomb, that developed instruments to seek out human trafficking networks within the deep and darkish net, and that enabled complicated army methods to work collectively even after they weren’t initially designed to take action. She additionally established a brand new workplace to spur novel biotechnologies, the White Home stated.
Underneath her management, DARPA kick-started the event of a rapid-response mRNA vaccine platform, making doable the quickest secure and efficient vaccine growth in world historical past in response to COVID-19, it stated.
Prabhakar was unanimously confirmed by the US Senate to steer the Nationwide Institute of Requirements and Expertise (NIST), taking the helm at age 34 as the primary girl to steer the company, the White Home stated.
Prabhakar’s household immigrated from India to the US when she was three years outdated – first to Chicago after which settling when she was age 10 in Lubbock, Texas, the place she went on to get her electrical engineering diploma from Texas Tech College.
She was the primary girl to earn a PhD in utilized physics from the California Institute of Expertise, the place she additionally earned an MS in electrical engineering. She began her profession within the legislative department as a Congressional Fellow on the Workplace of Expertise Evaluation.
She is a fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers and a member of the Nationwide Academy of Engineering, and was a fellow on the Heart for Superior Research within the Behavioral Sciences at Stanford College.
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