Dr. Laurie E. Locascio, U.S. Under Secretary of Commerce for Standards and Technology and director of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), reflects on the implementation of the bipartisan CHIPS and Science Act which appropriated over $52 billion for semiconductor manufacturing, research and development, and workforce training and education.
In conversation with Karen Horting, executive director and CEO of the Society of Women Engineers, Dr. Locascio discusses how this legislation is shaping the future of the U.S. semiconductor industry and why organizations like SWE are essential to its success.
Dr. Locascio shares insights on workforce development and efforts to increase the representation of women and underrepresented groups in STEM, including apprenticeships, upskilling, retraining, and returnships.
Listen to the episode on SWE’s website, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or on your favorite podcast platform.
Guest: Dr. Laurie E. Locascio, Director of NIST and the Under Secretary of Commerce for Standards and Technology, U.S. Department of Commerce
Dr. Laurie E. Locascio is currently the Under Secretary of Commerce for Standards and Technology and the director of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST).
From 2017 to 2022, Dr. Locascio served as vice president for research at the University of Maryland College Park and the University of Maryland Baltimore. She also served as a professor in the Fischell Department of Bioengineering at the A. James Clark School of Engineering with a secondary faculty appointment in the Department of Pharmacology in the School of Medicine.
Before joining the university, she was at NIST for 31 years, rising from a research biomedical engineer to leading the agency’s Material Measurement Laboratory.
Dr. Locascio is a fellow of the National Academy of Inventors, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American Chemical Society, and the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering. Dr. Locascio was recently elected to the National Academy of Engineering.
Host: Karen Horting, Executive Director and CEO, Society of Women Engineers (SWE)
Karen Horting, CAE, is the executive director and CEO for the Society of Women Engineers, a position she has held since Dec. 31, 2013.
With more than 20 years of experience in sales, marketing, and fund development, Horting was most recently the SWE deputy executive director.
In this capacity, she was responsible for all fund development activities for the organization, including corporate membership and SWE’s Corporate Partnership Council and more traditional philanthropy such as foundation and government grants, individual gifts, and bequests.
She also oversaw many of the Society’s programs and services, including professional development, K-12 outreach, the annual conference, and SWE’s international expansion.
She currently serves on the Leadership Circle of the 50K Coalition, the FIRST Robotics Board of Directors, the STEM Ed Coalition Board of Directors, Engineering CAS Diversity Advisory Board, and the Johns Hopkins Carey School of Business Dean’s Alumni Advisory Board (DAAB).
Diverse: a SWE podcast has been recognized as a top women in STEM podcast and a top engineering podcast!
