Branden Brough is the Senior Advisor for Strategy at Berkeley Lab. In this role, Dr. Brough coordinates large-scale Lab-wide research initiatives, most notably those related to the Lab's adoption and integration of artificial intelligence (AI) and the Genesis Mission. Dr. Brough returns to Berkeley Lab following 2.5 years as the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) Assistant Director for Nanotechnology and the Director of the United States National Nanotechnology Coordination Office (NNCO). In these roles he served as the national spokesperson and central point of contact for the $2.4B/year U.S. National Nanotechnology Initiative (NNI), provided technical and advisory support for Federal nanotechnology research and development, and facilitated interagency communication and coordination across the 20+ federal departments and agencies. Previously, Dr. Brough helped lead the Molecular Foundry at Berkeley Lab as its Deputy Director where he helped guide the organization’s scientific plans and initiatives, while also managing the center’s operations. Before joining the Molecular Foundry, Dr. Brough worked at the NIH’s National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases (NIAMS), where he led strategic policy and planning activities, as well as Congressional and public outreach efforts.
Dr. Brough received his Ph.D. in Mechanical
Engineering – focusing on the integration of
synthetic motor molecules and natural self-assembling proteins into
micro/nanotechnologies – from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA),
before becoming a AAAS Science and Technology Policy Fellow in 2007.