Erica Fuchs is the Director of the Critical Technology Initiative at Carnegie Mellon University and a Kavčić-Moura Professor in the Department of Engineering and Public Policy, and by courtesy the Department of Materials Science and Engineering and the Heinz College of Information Systems and Public Policy. She is also a Research Associate with the National Bureau of Economic Research. Her research focuses on the development, commercialization and global manufacturing of emerging technologies, and national policy in that context.

As director of the Critical Technology Initiative at Carnegie Mellon, Fuchs is pioneering advanced analytics to help governments more smartly invest in and enact policies in technologies critical to national security, economic competitiveness, and the well-being of all citizens. As part of this initiative, Dr. Fuchs catalyzed and served as founding director of the National Network for Critical Technology Assessment, which mobilized academic thought-leaders from more than 13 Tier I research universities across the country to develop a vision for critical technology assessment, including current capabilities (and demonstrations thereof), gaps, and the investment needed to realize that vision. Previously she was the founding Faculty Director of Carnegie Mellon’s Manufacturing Futures Initiative (today is an endowed institute) – which leveraged machine learning to accelerate the commercialization of advanced manufactured products throughout the innovation lifecycle.

Dr. Fuchs currently serves on the U.S. National Academies Horizon Scanning and Emerging Technology Standing Committee for the Department of War; and the U.S. Government Accountability Office’s Polaris Council (for Science Technology Assessment, and Analytics). She has testified in Congressional hearings in both the House and Senate and had her work covered widely by news outlets such as Axios, Bloomberg, National Public Radio, and the New York Times. Fuchs completed her Ph.D. in Engineering Systems (2006), her Masters in Technology Policy (2003), and her Bachelors in Materials Science and Engineering (1999), all from M.I.T. She was born and attended K-12 in the public school system in Reading, PA. In her free time she enjoys backpacking, skiing, running, and spending time with her husband and two children.