Speakers

Dr. Lisa Friedersdorf

Dr. Lisa Friedersdorf is the Assistant Director for Microelectronics, Materials, and Nanotechnology at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy and the Director of the National Nanotechnology Coordination Office. She has a particular interest in advancing innovation and technology through university-industry-government collaboration. Lisa is a strong advocate for science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education, and has over two decades of experience teaching at both the university and high school levels.

Prior to joining OSTP, Lisa held a number of positions at the intersection of academia, industry, and government. At Lehigh University, Lisa served as the Associate Director of the Materials Research Center and Director of the Materials Industrial Liaison Program. In this role, she oversaw dozens of membership programs and was responsible for developing and coordinating multi-investigator interdisciplinary research programs including a multimillion-dollar public-private partnership in microelectronics. As Director of the Virginia Nanotechnology Initiative, she led an alliance of academic institutions, industry, and government laboratories and developed priorities and a shared vision for the Commonwealth. At the University of Virginia, she served as Managing Director of the nanoSTAR Institute and led the development of pan-university initiatives in the Office of the Vice President for Research. Additionally, Lisa was active in the start-up ecosystem for many years assisting small companies with business development and access to resources, and vetting emerging technologies for investors.

Lisa earned her PhD and MSE in Materials Science and Engineering from the Johns Hopkins University and BS in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Central Florida.