US President Joe Biden on Tuesday appointed Indian-American scientist Dr. Arati Prabhakar as Director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP). Dr. Arati Prabhakar would make history as the first woman, immigrant, or person of color to head OSTP. If confirmed by the Senate, Dr. Prabhakar made history as the first woman, immigrant, or person of color to head OSTP. “Dr. A b”brilliant and highly respected engineer and applied physicist, Prabhakar will lead the Office of Science and Technology Policy to use science, technology, and innovation to expand our capabilities, solve our toughest challenges, and make the impossible possible,” said”Mr. Prabhakar Biden.
“I sh”re the belief of Dr. Prabhakar 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 scientific advisor,” he “aid. Once confirmed, she would also be an assistant to the President of science and technology. In this capacity, Dr. Prabhakar is to be the President’s President of Science and Technology, a co-chair of the President’s President’sience and Technology Advisers, and a member of the Office of the President.
If dr. Prabhakar is confirmed as OSTP leader; he would become the third Asian American, Native Hawaiian, or Pacific Islander to serve in President Biden’s cabBiden’slong with Vice President Kamala Harris and US Trade Representative Katherine Tai. “Today’s no”Is historic, with Prabhakar being the first woman, immigrant, or person of color to be nominated as Senate-confirmed director of OSTP,” the Whit,” House said. The Senate unanimously confirmed Dr. Prabhakar as the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) leader, becoming the first woman to hold that role. She later served as director of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), the birthplace of pioneering technologies such as stealth aircraft and the Internet.
Indian Americans have welcomed the nomination.
“Indian American “impact is pleased to learn that President Biden plans to nominate Dr. Arati Prabhakar as Director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP). We applaud the President for his landmark decision, which will not only qualify Dr. Prabhakar but elevates all South Asians and Asian Americans who aspire to reach new heights and become leaders within the public service and scientific community,” said Neil Mak”ija of the Indian American Impact Fund. “It is incredibly”e to see the President nominate Dr. Prabhakar to be the first woman, the first person of color, and the first immigrant to lead OSTP as we observe Immigrant Heritage Month in June,” said Var”n Nikore, Executive Director of AAPI Victory Alliance.
She is an engineer and applied physicist with extensive management and leadership credentials. Dr. Prabhakar was the director of DARPA from 2012 to 2017. At DARPA, she oversaw teams that prototyped a system to detect nuclear and radiological material before a terrorist could build a bomb, developed tools to exploit human trafficking networks in the deep and dark web, and that enablmplex military systems to work together, even if they weren’t Nally designed for that. So far, Dr. Prabhakar has led two federal R&D agencies and worked with startups, large corporations, universities, government labs, and non-profit organizations across various industries to create powerful new solutions to critical challenges. She also established a new office to promote new biotechnologies, the White House said.
Under her leadership, DARPA kick-started the development of a rapidly responding mRNA vaccine platform, enabling the fastest safe and effective vaccine development in world history in response to COVID-19, it said. Dr. The US Senate unanimously confirmed Prabhakar to head the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), taking the helm at age 34 as the first woman to lead the agency, the White House said. The family of Dr. Prabhakar immigrated from India to the United States when she was three years old – first to Chicago and settled when she was 10 in Lubbock, Texas, where she received 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 and received an MS in electrical engineering. She began her career in the legislature as a Congressional Fellow in the Office of Technology Assessment. She is a fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, a National Academy of Engineering member, and a fellow of the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences at Stanford University.
