President Joe Biden announced his intent to nominate University of Maryland research vice president Laurie Locascio as the Commerce Department’s Under Secretary for Standards and Technology on Friday.
The Under Secretary for Standards and Technology directs technological development within guidelines set by the United States Secretary of Commerce.
Locascio also serves as the research vice president at the University of Maryland, Baltimore. In these roles, she oversees research and innovation at the two campuses, with a combined total of $1.1 billion in external research funding each year.
Locascio is a bioengineering professor at this university and holds a secondary appointment as a pharmacology professor at the University of Maryland School of Medicine.
The Commerce Department’s Under Secretary for Standards and Technology also typically serves as the National Institute of Standards and Technology director.
[UMD health equity center to be part of White House COVID-19 vaccine initiative]
Prior to her work at this university, Locascio was the acting principal deputy director and associate director for laboratory programs at NIST, and worked at the agency for more than two decades.
In a tweet Friday evening, university President Darryll Pines wrote “Dr. Locascio is perfectly suited to lead NIST in the near future.”
As a researcher, Locascio has published more than 100 scientific papers and 11 patents, according to a press release from the White House.
Locascio received a doctorate in toxicology from the University of Maryland, Baltimore, a master’s degree in bioengineering from the University of Utah and a bachelor’s degree in chemistry from James Madison University.
