Afua Bruce is an American engineer, data executive, professor, and former U.S. government official who has held appointments at the

Federal Bureau of Investigation The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic intelligence and security service of the United States and its principal federal law enforcement agency. Operating under the jurisdiction of the United States Department of Justice, ...

, White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, and on President Joe Biden’s transition agency review team at the

Department of Justice A justice ministry, ministry of justice, or department of justice is a ministry or other government agency in charge of the administration of justice. The ministry or department is often headed by a minister of justice (minister for justice in a ...

. In 2021, a statue was erected in Bruce's honor in Dallas, Texas by the American Association for Advancement of Science. Bruce is a public interest technologist.

Education

Bruce received a Bachelor of Science in Computer Engineering from

Purdue University Purdue University is a public land-grant research university in West Lafayette, Indiana, and the flagship campus of the Purdue University system. The university was founded in 1869 after Lafayette businessman John Purdue donated land and mone ...

and an MBA from the

University of Michigan , mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth" , former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821) , budget = $10.3 billion (2021) , endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...

. At Purdue, Bruce was one of two recipients of the BP Amoco merit-based scholarship.

Career

Bruce began her career as a software engineer at IBM. She then joined the FBI where she served in various strategy and program management roles. In 2015, she was appointed to the Office of Science and Technology Policy at the White House as the Executive Director of the National Science and Technology Council where she led over 100 different Federal inter-agency working groups across topics that included: environment, and sustainability, homeland and national security, science, technology, and STEM education. Bruce then became the first Director of Engineering and a Fellow in the newly formed Public Interest Technology program at New America. In this program, Bruce oversaw the Public Interest Technology University Network, and worked with technologists working with state and local government, and NGOs, to develop technology and policy. In February 2020, it was announced that Bruce would be the new Chief Program Officer at DataKind. Bruce also holds a faculty position at Carnegie Mellon University. Bruce was among 29 people named to Joseph R. Biden, Jr.'s agency review team for the Department of Justice in November 2020. In 2020, Bruce gave a

Ted Talk TED Conferences, LLC (Technology, Entertainment, Design) is an American-Canadian non-profit media organization that posts international talks online for free distribution under the slogan "ideas worth spreading". TED was founded by Richard Sau ...

on Tech Equity and Serving the Community. Bruce is the co-author of the 2022 book, ''The Tech That Comes Next'', a non-fiction analysis of how technology can play a role in an equitable world.

Honors

Bruce was named an American Association for Advancement of Science If/Then Ambassador in recognition of her work to interest girls in STEM careers and featured in the If/Then Statue Exhibit.

References

{{Authority control Living people Office of Science and Technology Policy officials Purdue University alumni University of Michigan alumni Year of birth missing (living people)