Thomas Kalil

Thomas Kalil is the Associate Director for Policy at the Office of Science and Technology Policy. He was formerly the Special Assistant to the Chancellor for Science and Technology at UC Berkeley. He has been charged with developing major new multi-disciplinary research and education initiatives at the intersection of information technology, nanotechnology, microsystems, and biology. He will also help develop a broad range of partnerships between 2 of the California Institutes of Science and Innovation (Center for Information Technology Research in the Interest of Society, California Institute for Bioengineering, Biotechnology and Quantitative Biomedical Research) and potential stakeholders in industry, government, foundations, and non-profits. Previously, Thomas Kalil served as the Deputy Assistant to President Clinton for Technology and Economic Policy, and the Deputy Director of the White House National Economic Council. He was the NEC’s “point person” on a wide range of technology and telecommunications issues, such as the liberalization of Cold War export controls, the allocation of spectrum for new wireless services, and investments in upgrading America’s high-tech workforce. He led a number of White House technology initiatives, such as the National Nanotechnology Initiative, the Next Generation Internet, bridging the digital divide, e-learning, increasing funding for long-term information technology research, making IT more accessible to people with disabilities, and addressing the growing imbalance between support for biomedical research and for the physical sciences and engineering. He was also appointed by President Clinton to serve on the G-8 Digital Opportunity Task Force (dot force). Prior to joining the White House, Tom was a trade specialist at the Washington offices of Dewey Ballantine, where he represented the Semiconductor Industry Association on U.S.-Japan trade issues and technology policy. He also served as the principal staffer to Gordon Moore in his capacity as Chair of the SIA Technology Committee. Tom also serves as a consultant for organizations such as the Semiconductor Industry Association, Internet2, CommerceNet, RAND, and the “Digital Promise” initiative proposed by Newton Minow and Larry Grossman. Tom received a B.A. in political science and international economics from the University of Wisconsin at Madison, and completed graduate work at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy. He is the author of articles and op-eds on S&T policy, nanotechnology, nuclear strategy, U.S.-Japan trade negotiations, U.S.-Japan cooperation in science and technology, the National Information Infrastructure, distributed learning, and electronic commerce.