Dr. Lynne Parker

Dr. Lynne E. Parker is a leading American roboticist, artificial intelligence policy expert, and academic, whose career spans groundbreaking research, high-level government service, and visionary university leadership.

A native of Knoxville, Tennessee, Dr. Parker earned her Bachelor of Science in Computer Science from Tennessee Technological University, followed by a Master’s degree from the University of Tennessee and a Ph.D. in Computer Science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Her doctoral research, which focused on heterogeneous multi-robot cooperation, became a foundational contribution to the field of multi-robot systems.

Dr. Parker began her professional career at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, where she advanced to become a Distinguished Research and Development Staff Member and Group Leader. In 2002, she joined the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, as a faculty member and founded the Distributed Intelligence Laboratory. Her research has spanned distributed robotics, human-robot interaction, machine learning, and sensor networks, with numerous peer-reviewed publications and collaborations in each of these areas.

In addition to her academic achievements, Dr. Parker has served in several key federal leadership roles. She was Director of the Division of Information and Intelligent Systems at the National Science Foundation from 2015 to 2016. From 2018 to 2022, she held senior roles in the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP), including Assistant Director for Artificial Intelligence, Deputy U.S. Chief Technology Officer, and Founding Director of the National Artificial Intelligence Initiative Office. During this time, she played a central role in crafting and advancing the U.S. national AI strategy and served as co-chair of the National AI Research Resource Task Force.

After returning to the University of Tennessee, she served as Associate Vice Chancellor and led the AI Tennessee Initiative, an effort to position the state as a hub for AI innovation, education, and economic development.

Dr. Parker’s achievements have been recognized with numerous prestigious awards, including the U.S. Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers, the IEEE Distinguished Service Award in Robotics and Automation, and the IEEE George Saridis Leadership Award. She is a Fellow of the IEEE, the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), and the Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence (AAAI), and is a Distinguished Member of the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM).

As of 2025, Dr. Lynne Parker serves as the Principal Deputy Director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy and Executive Director of the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST), where she continues to shape national policy on science, technology, and the future of artificial intelligence.