Alexander J. Titus | |
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 Titus in 2019 | |
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| Occupation(s) | Biotechnology professional, strategist, entrepreneur |
Alexander J. Titus is an American AI and biotechnology expert, strategist, and entrepreneur notable for significant contributions to biotechnology, artificial intelligence (AI), and national security. [1] His expertise in integrating AI with biotechnology and security has distinguished his career in both the public and private sectors.
Titus pursued his undergraduate studies at the University of Puget Sound, earning a Bachelor of Science in Biochemistry and a Bachelor of Arts in Biology. He furthered his education at Dartmouth College, where he completed a Ph.D. in Machine Learning and Bioinformatics. [2]
Titus's career has been marked by a unique blend of roles across academia, government, and the private sector. His early roles included significant contributions in data science and bioinformatics at Dartmouth College. [3]
Titus began his government career at the U.S. Department of Defense as the Assistant Director (later known as Principal Director)[ citation needed ]of Defense Research & Engineering for Biotechnology. [4] [5] He was instrumental in launching biotechnology modernization programs at the DoD and the bioindustrial manufacturing institute BioMADE. He later joined the Advanced Regenerative Manufacturing Institute (ARMI) as its first Chief Strategy Officer, where he developed pandemic response programs and led DoD-funded initiatives. [6] [7]
Titus moved to Google in 2021 as a Strategic Business Executive, leading the Cloud Healthcare & Life Sciences strategy for the public sector, [8] where he played a key role in launching and scaling pandemic response programs across the U.S. [9] [10] In 2022, he joined Colossal Biosciences as the VP of Strategy & Computational Sciences after a year on the scientific advisory board, [11] where he led teams in various fields including Genotype-to-Phenotype Data Sciences, AI, Machine Learning, and Bioinformatics Engineering. [12]
Titus's academic appointments include roles as a Principal Scientist at the USC Information Sciences Institute, [13] Research Faculty at the USC Iovine and Young Academy, [14] External Fellow at the International Computer Science Institute in Berkeley, CA, [15] and Affiliate Faculty at the University of New Hampshire. [16]
Titus has been actively involved in shaping national policy regarding biotechnology and AI. [17] He has held positions on various policy and strategic committees, including the COVID-19 High-Performance Computing Consortium [18] [19] and the National Science and Technology Council at the White House.[ citation needed ]
In 2022, he became a congressionally-appointed Commissioner on the National Security Commission on Emerging Biotechnology, focusing on enhancing the U.S. defense and national security use of biotechnology. [20] [21] [22] The Commission is set to release its interim report by the end of 2023 and its final report by the end of 2024.
Throughout his career, Titus has served as an advisor to numerous startups and organizations, leveraging his expertise in computational product development and government strategy. [23] [24] He also launched the biotechnology publication Bioeconomy.XYZ at the start of the pandemic.
Titus is a native of Hood River, Oregon, where he grew up exploring the wilderness and developed an appreciation for being outdoors. In 2014, Titus, along with his fiancee, set off on a long-distance bicycle ride from Prudhoe Bay, AK, to Tiera del Fuego, Argentina, but did not complete their journey. [25]
The USC Information Sciences Institute (ISI) is a component of the University of Southern California (USC) Viterbi School of Engineering, and specializes in research and development in information processing, computing, and communications technologies. It is located in Marina del Rey, California.
The SANS Institute is a private U.S. for-profit company founded in 1989 that specializes in information security, cybersecurity training, and selling certificates. Topics available for training include cyber and network defenses, penetration testing, incident response, digital forensics, and auditing. The information security courses are developed through a consensus process involving administrators, security managers, and information security professionals. The courses cover security fundamentals and technical aspects of information security. The institute has been recognized for its training programs and certification programs. Per 2021, SANS is the world’s largest cybersecurity research and training organization. SANS is an acronym for SysAdmin, Audit, Network, and Security.
The United States National Security Council (NSC) is the national security council used by the president of the United States for consideration of national security, military, and foreign policy matters. Based in the White House, it is part of the Executive Office of the President of the United States, and composed of senior national security advisors and Cabinet officials.
The U.S. Commission on National Security/21st Century (USCNS/21), also known as the Hart-Rudman Commission or Hart-Rudman Task Force on Homeland Security, was chartered by Secretary of Defense William Cohen in 1998 to provide a comprehensive review of US national security requirements in the 21st century. USCNS/21 was tasked "to analyze the emerging international security environment; to develop a US national security strategy appropriate to that environment; and to assess the various security institutions for their current relevance to the effective and efficient implementation of that strategy, and to recommend adjustments as necessary".
The United States Department of Defense is an executive branch department of the federal government of the United States charged with coordinating and supervising all agencies and functions of the U.S. government directly related to national security and the United States Armed Forces. As of November 2022, the U.S. Department of Defense is the second largest employer in the world after India, with over 1.4 million active-duty service personnel, including soldiers, marines, sailors, airmen, and guardians. The Department of Defense also maintains over 778,000 National Guard and reservists, and over 747,000 civilians, bringing the total to over 2.91 million employees. Headquartered at the Pentagon in Arlington County, Virginia, just outside Washington, D.C., the Department of Defense's stated mission is "to provide the military forces needed to deter war and ensure our nation's security".
The Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) is a U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) office responsible for the procurement and development of medical countermeasures, principally against bioterrorism, including chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear (CBRN) threats, as well as pandemic influenza and emerging diseases. BARDA was established in 2006 through the Pandemic and All-Hazards Preparedness Act (PAHPA) and reports to the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response (ASPR). The office manages Project BioShield, which funds the research, development and stockpiling of vaccines and treatments that the government could use during public health emergencies such as chemical, biological, radiological or nuclear (CBRN) attacks.
The Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering, abbreviated USD (R&E), is a senior official of the United States Department of Defense. The USD (R&E) is charged with the development and oversight of technology strategy for the DoD. The post has at various times had the titles Assistant Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering, or Director of Defense Research and Engineering (DDR&E). The latter title has itself historically varied between the rank of under secretary and that of assistant secretary.
The Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense, formerly known as the Blue Ribbon Study Panel on Biodefense, is an organization of former high-ranking government officials that analyzes US capabilities and capacity to defend against biological threats. According to the Commission's mission statement, the organization was formed to "provide for a comprehensive assessment of the state of U.S. biodefense efforts, and to issue recommendations that will foster change."
A military artificial intelligence arms race is an arms race between two or more states to develop and deploy lethal autonomous weapons systems (LAWS). Since the mid-2010s, many analysts have noted the emergence of such an arms race between superpowers for better military AI, driven by increasing geopolitical and military tensions.
The artificial intelligenceindustry in China is a rapidly developing multi-billion dollar industry. The roots of China's AI development started in the late 1970s following Deng Xiaoping's economic reforms emphasizing science and technology as the country's primary productive force.
Debasis Dash is an Indian computational biologist and chief scientist at the Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology (IGIB). Known for his research on proteomics and Big Data and Artificial Intelligence studies, his studies have been documented by way of a number of articles and ResearchGate, an online repository of scientific articles has listed 120 of them. The Department of Biotechnology of the Government of India awarded him the National Bioscience Award for Career Development, one of the highest Indian science awards, for his contributions to biosciences, in 2014. He was appointed as the director of Institute of Life Sciences, Bhubaneswar on 18 May 2023.
Syra Madad is an American pathogen preparedness expert and infectious disease epidemiologist. Madad is the Senior Director of the System-wide Special Pathogens Program at NYC Health + Hospitals where she is part of the executive leadership team which oversees New York City's response to the Coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic in the city's 11 public hospitals. She was featured in the Netflix documentary series Pandemic: How to Prevent an Outbreak and the Discovery Channel documentary The Vaccine: Conquering COVID.
Regulation of artificial intelligence is the development of public sector policies and laws for promoting and regulating artificial intelligence (AI). It is part of the broader regulation of algorithms. The regulatory and policy landscape for AI is an emerging issue in jurisdictions worldwide, including for international organizations without direct enforcement power like the IEEE or the OECD.
Caitlin M. Rivers is an American epidemiologist who as Senior Scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security and assistant professor at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, specializing on improving epidemic preparedness. Rivers is currently working on the American response to the COVID-19 pandemic with a focus on the incorporation of infectious disease modeling and forecasting into public health decision making.
The COVID-19 Genomics UK (COG-UK) consortium was a group of academic institutions and public health agencies in the United Kingdom created in April 2020 to collect, sequence and analyse genomes of SARS-CoV-2 at scale, as part of COVID-19 pandemic response.
The Technology Innovation Institute (TII) is an Abu Dhabi government funded research institution that operates in the areas of artificial intelligence, quantum computing, autonomous robotics, cryptography, advanced materials, digital science, directed energy, secure systems, and more recently also: biotechnology, renewable and sustainable energy, and propulsion and space. The institute is a part of the Abu Dhabi Government’s Advanced Technology Research Council (ATRC).
Alexander Alden is an American national security official and business executive specializing in U.S. foreign policy, defense strategy, and emerging technologies. He held senior roles in the U.S. Department of State, National Security Council, and Department of Defense focusing on defense policy, transatlantic relations, and technological innovation.
The Artificial Intelligence Cold War (AI Cold War) is a narrative in which geopolitical tensions between the United States of America (USA), the Russian Federation, and the People's Republic of China (PRC) lead to a Second Cold War waged in the area of artificial intelligence technology rather than in the areas of nuclear capabilities or ideology. The context of the AI Cold War narrative is the AI arms race, which involves a build-up of military capabilities using AI technology by the US and China and the usage of increasingly advanced semiconductors which power those capabilities.
The National Security Commission on Emerging Biotechnology (NSCEB) is an American bipartisan legislative commission created by Congress in the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2022.
Devaki Raj, who grew up in Lexington, Massachusetts, is chief digital and AI officer in the strategy office at Saab, Inc. and CEO and co-founder of CrowdAI.
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