By The Senate confirmed Arati Prabhakar as Office of Science and Technology Policy director, the first woman of color and immigrant to hold the position, on Thursday.
Prabhakar‘s confirmation came in a largely party-line vote of 56-40 with 10 Republicans voting in favor; Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W. Va., voting against; and four senators not voting.
Senators urged Prabhakar, who previously served as director of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency and the National Institute of Standards and Technology, to coordinate agencies’ competing emerging technology priorities during her nomination hearing July 20.
President Biden nominated Prabhakar for the post on June 21 to replace Acting Director Alondra Nelson, who filled the vacancy left by Eric Lander when he resigned over disrespecting and demeaning staff and women, in particular, according to multiple staffers’ accounts.
The first woman of color and immigrant to hold the position, she will advise on maintaining U.S. competitiveness in emerging technologies with investments in R&D.
Read the rest @ https://fedscoop.com/arati-prabhakar-confirmed-ostp-director/
