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Carl J Williams

Carl J Williams

Acting Director of Physical Measurement Laboratory

Carl J Williams is the Acting Director of the Physical Measurement Laboratory (PML) and the former Acting Director of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). He is a Fellow of the Joint Quantum Institute and the Joint Center for Quantum Information in Computer Science and Adjunct Professor of Physics at the University of Maryland (UMD). He directs the Quantum Information Program and helps lead the National Strategic Computing Initiative at NIST. He is a member and chairs interagency efforts in support of these activities under the Committee of Science of the National Science and Technology Council. He is a member of the Executive Leadership Team within the PML and represents the PML to other federal agencies.

Dr Williams received his BA in Physics from Rice University in 1981; his PhD from the University of Chicago in 1987; joined NIST in 1998 becoming coordinator of the NIST Quantum Information Program in 2000; and Chief of the Atomic Physics Division of the NIST Physics Laboratory in 2004 before being appointed Chief of the Quantum Measurement Division of the NIST Physical Measurement Laboratory in 2011. In 2006, Dr Williams helped establish the Joint Quantum Institute (JQI), became a founding Fellow of the JQI, and the first NIST co-Director of the JQI – a position he held until spring 2011. Dr Williams worked as a senior policy analyst within the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP), Executive Office of the President from April 2008 until July 2010. He is a Fellow of the American Physical Society, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and the Washington Academy of Science. He received the Department of Commerce Silver Medal in 2003 for his leadership of the NIST Quantum Information Program, the Department of Commerce Gold Medal for science in 2008 for scientific contributions and was awarded the 2005 Arthur S. Flemming Award for Scientific Excellence in Government Service for his contributions to quantum physics. He is an Associate Editor of the Journal of Quantum Information and Computation, has authored over 110 scientific publications, and has been a speaker at numerous national and international conferences.