Arati Prabhakar

Title: Former Director of the White House Office of Science & Technology PolicyIndustry: GovernmentNotable in 2024: Prabhakar was a key architect of President Joe Biden's AI policies and the Biden Cancer Moonshot.

During a time of rapid technological change and uncertainty for the U.S. in the global race for AI dominance, Arati Prabhakar has had a view of the action from the most powerful office in the nation.

Prabhakar served as the Director of the U.S. Office of Science and Technology Policy under the Biden administration, and she was the first woman and person of color to hold the position. She was the President's Chief Advisor for Science and Technology, a member of the President's Cabinet and co-chair of the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology.

She advised Biden and his staff on issues related to science and technology, making sure proper research, science and facts stayed at the forefront of U.S. policymaking. This included Prabhakar advising the president regarding climate change — where some of Biden's signature legislative accomplishments took place — health, national security and artificial intelligence.

She played a major role in President Biden signing a historic, comprehensive Executive Order on AI, which aimed to strengthen AI infrastructure and further secure the nation's position as a leader in the AI space (since rescinded by the Trump administration). Her work also helped outline the government's strategy and priorities in the National AI Research and Development Strategic Roadmap – meant to guide the direction of AI research.

While the change in presidential administration has upended the AI work Prabhakar did in the White House, her example and life story remains a precedent setting one for women in the fields of science and technology, and public service. Her family immigrated to the United States when she was just three years old. She grew up in Lubbock, Texas and earned a Bachelor of Science in electrical engineering from Texas Tech University in 1979. She went on to receive a Master of Science in electrical engineering and a Ph.D. in applied physics from the California Institute of Technology, becoming the first woman to earn a PhD in applied physics from Caltech.

She worked as a director at the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), and she was the first woman and person of Indian descent to hold the position. Prabhakar served in multiple leadership roles within the tech industry, returning to public service as director of the National Institute of Standards and Technology in 2013. She began serving the Biden administration in 2022.

While working in the Biden White House, Prabhakar made it a goal to integrate cutting-edge science and technology into the administration's climate strategy. She nurtured diversity, equity and inclusion in science and promoted innovation and advanced research across sectors including artificial intelligence, quantum computing and biotechnology.

Late last year, after the election results were already in, she delivered a talk at MIT outlining her vision for a successful national science effort and reiterating an optimistic view of the future that has been a hallmark of her successful career. The talk focused on challenges and opportunities for growth in medicine, AI and climate change.

"The aspirations that we have as a country today are as great as they have ever been," she told a packed house at the MIT event. She added that if scientists and technologists need a guiding purpose for the future, it should be "to prove once more that when people come together and do this work … we do it in a way that builds opportunity and expands opportunity for everyone in our country."