US President Joe Biden announced[1] two new tech policy appointments to White House positions this week, naming Dr. Alondra Nelson as leader of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) and Dr. Francis Collins as science advisor to the President as well as temporary co-chair of the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST).
Nelson, who was also named Deputy Assistant to the President, will focus her work at OSTP on clean energy investments, a people's Bill of Rights for automated technologies, a national strategy for STEM equity, the appointment of the nation's Chief Technology Officer, data-driven guidance for implementing the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and programs to bring tech talent to the US.
She previously served as deputy director of the newly-created OSTP Science and Society Division, where she led efforts to support US research infrastructure and several[2] directives[3] issued early in Biden's first year. Nelson is also a professor at Princeton University and was previously Dean of Social Science at Columbia University.
Nelson told OSTP's 150-person staff that their mission is to maximize the benefits of science and technology to advance health, prosperity, security, environmental quality, and justice for all Americans.
"Commitment number one is to our people — the devoted civil and public servants who work at OSTP. We should never lose sight of how lucky we each are to work with such dedicated, passionate, brilliant colleagues every day. We have incredibly high aspirations for what science and technology in America should be, but it really begins with all of us. That's why I'm committed to making sure OSTP is a model for the science and technology ecosystem we envision for the nation — to making us a mirror of the possibilities