Bio: 

 

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William B. Bonvillian is Lecturer at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the Science Technology and Society and Political Science Departments, and Senior Director, Special Projects, at MIT's Office of Digital Learning, directing a research project on workforce education. He began teaching science, technology and innovation policy MIT in 2007, and has also taught  an online course on these subjects since 2018 through MITx and edX.

 

Prior to this position, from 2006-17, he was Director of the MIT’s Washington, D.C. Office, reporting to MIT’s President. In this position he worked to support MIT’s strong and historic relations with federal R&D agencies, and its role on national science policy.  He has assisted with major MIT technology policy initiatives, on energy technology, the “convergence” of life, engineering and physical sciences, advanced manufacturing, and online higher education.

 

Prior to that position, he served for seventeen years as a senior policy advisor in the U.S. Senate. His legislative efforts included science and technology policy and innovation issues. He worked extensively on legislation creating the Department of Homeland Security, on Intelligence Reform, on climate change, on defense and life science R&D, and on national competitiveness and innovation legislation leading to the America Competes Act in 2007.

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In addition to teaching at MIT, he has been on the adjunct faculty at Georgetown and Johns Hopkins SAIS, and has taught courses in science and technology policy at those schools as well as George Washington University's. Elliott School. He has lectured and given speeches before numerous organizations on science, technology and innovation questions, including university lectures: the 2012 annual Alan Bromley Memorial Lecture at the University of Ottawa, and invited lectures and talks at Cambridge University's Babbage Forum on manufacturing and its Institute for Manufacturing, Stamford University's Project on the Digital Economy, Duke University, the University of Texas El Paso, the University of Toronto Munk School, the National Defense University's Industrial College of the Armed Forces, Cornell University, Georgia Tech, National Graduate Research Institute for Policy Studies (GRIPS) in Tokyo, Universidade de Campinas in Brazil, Unividad Central de Caribe (UCC) in Puerto Rico,  American University in Cairo, University of North Carolina, Carleton College, Rochester Institute of Technology, and Southern Illinois University.

 

He is on the National Academies of Science Board on Materials and Manufacturing and its standing committee for its Innovation Policy Forum, served for seven years on its Board on Science Education, and has served on nine Academies’ Committees. He chaired for four years the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) standing Committee on Science, Engineering and Public Policy (COSEPP), is on the Polaris Council advising the federal Government Accountability Office's (GAO) Science, Technology Assessment ad Analytics program, is a member of the Babbage Policy Forum for Industrial Innovation Policy at Cambridge University IfM, served for over a decade on the Board of the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF), and serves on on the Advisory Council of the Mystic Seaport Museum. He previously served on the American Public and Land Grant Universities (APLU) Commission on the Science and Mathematics Teaching Imperative (SMTI) and on the Governor of Connecticut's Panel on Transportation Finance. 

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He has testified before the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, the UK Parliament Committee on Science and Technology, the U.S. House Subcommittee on Defense Appropriations, and the U.S. House Committee on Science and Technology

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He was the recipient of the IEEE Distinguished Public Service Award in 2007 and was elected a Fellow by the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 2011 for “socially distinguished” efforts “on behalf of the advancement of science and its applications.”

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Prior to his work on the Senate, he was a partner at a large national law firm. Early in his career, he served as the Deputy Assistant Secretary and Director of Congressional Affairs at the U.S. Department of Transportation, working on major transportation deregulation legislation. Following law school, he served as a law clerk to Hon. Jack B. Weinstein, a Federal Judge in New York. 

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Books: ​

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His book Pioneering Progress, American Science, Technology and Innovation Policy was released in the fall of 2024 by MIT Press. It reviews American science, innovation and industrial policy, see https://mitpress.mit.edu/9780262549448/pioneering-progress/

 

His book, with Prof. Sanjay Sarma of MIT,  Workforce Education - A New Roadmap, published by MIT Press in 2021, examines the American workforce education system and ways to improve it, see https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/workforce-education

 

His book, The DARPA Model for Transformative Technologies, edited with Richard Van Atta and Patrick Windham, was published by Open Book Publishers in 2020, and collects the leading academic articles on DARPA, see https://www.openbookpublishers.com/product/1079.

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His book, Advanced Manufacturing - The New American Innovation Policies, with Peter L. Singer, was published in 2018 by MIT Press, see https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/advanced-manufacturing.

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His 2015 book, with Distinguished Prof. Charles Weiss of Georgetown (ret.), entitled Technological Innovation in Legacy Sectors was published by Oxford University Press and is summarized at: https://global.oup.com/academic/product/technological-innovation-in-legacy-sectors-9780199374519?cc=us&lang=en&#.  

 

His book, with Prof. Weiss, Structuring an Energy Technology Revolution, was published by MIT Press in 2009 and is summarized at: http://mitpress.mit.edu/catalog/item/default.asp?ttype=2&tid=11808. 

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Articles and Chapters (by Topic):

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Industrial Innovation Policy

- "Strategies to Enable Assured Access to Semiconductors for the Department of Defense," National Academies of Sciences, National Materials and Manufacturing Board's Committee on Global Microelectronics, October 28, 2024 (member of Committee that drafted the report)  

- “Operation Warp Speed: Harbinger of American Industrial innovation Policies,” Science and Public Policy, Nov. 2024.

- "Industrial Policies for the 21st Century: Lessons from the United States," UN Economic Council for Latin America and the Caribbean, 2024.

- “Encompassing the Innovation Panoply,” Chapter 12 in The Next 75 Years if Science Policy,  special collection from Issues in Science and Technology, (Wash. DC: National Academies 2022).

- “Encompassing the Innovation Panoply – Institutional architecture for federal industrial policy,” Issues in Science and Technology (Nat’l Academies), Winter 2022.

- “Industrial Innovation Policy in the United States,” Annals of Science and Technology Policy, November 2022.

- “Emerging Industrial Policy Approaches in the United States,” ITIF, October 20, 2021. 

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Energy Technology Policy

- "Energy Storage for the Grid: Policy and Options for Sustaining Innovation (with David Hart and Nate Austin), MITEI Working Paper, April 28, 2018.

-“ARPA-E on the Chopping Block,” The American Interest, Feature, March 30, 2017.

- “Applying Innovation Policy to the U.S. Energy/Climate Challenge”, Chapter 12 in the book Delivering Energy Law and Policy in the EU and U.S. (Raphael Heffron and Gavin Little, eds.) (Edinburgh University Press 2016).  

- “Forum: DOD’s Role in Energy Innovation”, Issues in Science and Technology (Winter 2015) 10-14.

- “Time for Climate Plan B”, Issues in Science and Technology (Winter 2011),

- “A New Strategy for Energy Innovation” (with J. Alic, D. Sarewitz, and C. Weiss), Nature (July 15, 2010),

- “Stimulating a Revolution in Sustainable Energy Technology”, Environment (with C. Weiss, July/Aug. 2009).

- “Stimulating Innovation in Energy Technology”, Issues in Science and Technology (with C. Weiss, Fall 2009).

- “Will the Search for New Energy Technologies Require a New R&D Mission Agency?” Bridges (2007).

- “Power Play – The DARPA Model and U.S. Energy Policy”, American Interest (Nov./Dec. 2006) (reprinted in the book Blindside, below).

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Advanced Manufacturing

- “America’s Advanced Manufacturing Problem – and How to Fix It,” (with David Adler)  American Affairs, August 2023.

- “The Role of American Universities in Advanced Manufacturing,” Chapter 3 in Global Initiatives in Higher Education in the Fourth Industrial Revolution (Erma Oliver, ed.) (Johannesburg, SA: University of Johannesburg Press 2022)

- "Restoring U.S. Leadership in Manufacturing" in Dan Correa, ed., DayOne Project Papers (Jan. 23, 2020).

- "What Economists Don't Know About Manufacturing," (with Peter L. Singer), The American Interest, March 29, 2018.

- “US Manufacturing Decline and the Rise of New Production Paradigms, OECD Forum and OECD Yearbook, June 6, 2017.

- “The Rise of Advanced Manufacturing in the United States”, Chapter 11 in the book The Next Production Revolution, Implications for Governments and Business (Alistair Nolan, editor) (Paris: OECD May 2017).

- “Advanced Manufacturing: A New Policy Challenge”, Annals of Science and Technology Policy, v.1, n.1, March 31, 2017.

- "Donald Trump Voters and the Decline of American Manufacturing", Issues in Science and Technology (Nat’l Academies journal), Summer 2016. 

- “Advanced Manufacturing Policies and Paradigms for Innovation”, Science (December 6, 2013).

- “Reinventing American Manufacturing: the Role of Innovation”, Innovations (special manufacturing issue Summer 2012).

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Bringing Innovation to Legacy Sectors

- “Legacy sectors: barriers to global innovation in agriculture and energy” (with C. Weiss), Technology Analysis and Strategic Management v. 25, no. 10 (Nov. 2013). 1189-1208.

- “Complex, Established ‘Legacy’ Sectors: The Technology Revolutions that do Not Happen”, Innovations (with C. Weiss, Spring 2011).

- “Taking Covered Wagons East: A New Innovation Theory for Energy and Other Established Sectors”, Innovations (with C. Weiss, special energy issue Fall 2009).  

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Innovation Organization

- "The future of open research policy should be evidence based," Proceedings of the National Academies of Sciences (PNAS), July 30, 2024 (with Phillip Sharp, Amy Brand, et al)

-"Access to Science and Scholarship: Key questions about the Future of research Publishing" (with Phillip Sharp, et al), MIT faculty report, Nov. 30 2023.

-“Innovation Orchards, Helping Tech Startups Scale Up,” (with Peter L. Singer), ITIF Report, March 27, 2017.

-“New Model Innovation Agencies – An Overview,” Science and Public Policy (July 2014), v.41 n.4, 425-437

-“The Problem of Political Design in Federal Innovation Organization” appeared in the Stanford Univ. Press book The Science of Science Policy (spring 2011). 

- “The Innovation State”, American Interest (July/Aug. 2009).

- “The Politics of Jobs”, Issues in Science and Technology (Summer 2007).

- “Meeting the New Challenge to U.S. Economic Competitiveness”, Issues in Science and Technology (2004).

- “Organizing Science and Technology for Homeland Security”, Issues in Science and Technology (with K.V. Sharp, 2002).

- “Science at a Crossroads" (2002), published in Technology in Society and reprinted in the FASEB Journal.

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The DARPA Model

- "Summary of the DARPA Model," in Iain Mansfield and Geoffrey Owen, eds.,Visions of DARPA, Embracing Risk. Transforming  Technologies, PolicyExchange 2020, chapters 1, 27-33.

- "DARPA and its IARPA and ARPA-E Clones, a unique innovation organization model," Industrial and Corporate Change (Oxford), v.27, n. 5 (Oct. 1, 2018).

- “All That DARPA Can Be," The American Interest, v.11, n.1 (Sept.-Oct. 2015).

-"ARPA-E and DARPA: Applying the DARPA model to energy innovation” (with R.VanAtta), Journal of Technology Transfer (Oct. 2011).

- “The Connected Science Model for Innovation - The DARPA Model” appeared in the National Academy book 21st Century Innovation Systems for the U.S. and Japan (May 2009).

- “The Once and Future DARPA” appeared in the book Blindside (Brookings Press, Francis Fukuyama, ed., 2007).

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Online and Workforce Education

- "The Technologist - a new occupational category can both creat opportunities for workers and position the US to lead in advanced manufacturing," Issues in Science and Technology, Winter 2024

- “Community Colleges’ Roles in Building Apprenticeship Programs,” (with Steve Nelson and George Westerman) report for MassBridge, State of Massachusetts’ Advanced Manufacturing Workforce Education Program, June, 30, 2022.

-“The Playbook – for workforce education at manufacturing innovation institutes,” Report for DOD ManTech, Jan. 10, 2022. 

-"Can Online Education 'Retool' the Post-Pandemic Workforce?" (with Sanjay Sarma), The OECD Forum Network, June 11, 2021

-"MassBridge: Advanced Manufacturing Education Program - Benchmarking Study" (with G.Westerman, A. Clochard, and three others), MIT Office of Open Learning Report, April 2, 2021 

- "America Needs a New Workforce Education System" (with Sanjay Sarma), Issues in Science and Technology (Nat'l Academies journal), March 9, 2021

-"Applying New Education Technologies to Workforce Education Needs" (with Sanjay Sarma), MIT Work of the Future Research Brief, Oct. 14, 2020

-"Fixing an Imperfect Labor Market Information System" (with Sanjay Sarma), Issues in Science and Technology (Nat'l Academies journal), Fall 2018 (Special "Future of Work" Issue)

-"The Quest for Quality Jobs" (with Sanjay Sarma), Issues in Science and Technology (Nat'l Academies journal), Fall 2018 (Special "Future of Work" Issue)

-“Two Revolutions in Learning” (with S. Singer), Science (March 22, 2013)

- “The Online Challenge to Higher Education”, Issues in Science and Technology (with S. Singer, Summer 2013).