Celia Merzbacher

Celia Merzbacher

Dr. Celia Merzbacher is Executive Director of the Quantum Economic Development Consortium (QED-C), a global, industry-driven consortium managed by SRI International that aims to enable and grow the quantum industry. Dr. Merzbacher has more than two decades of experience as a leader of large multidisciplinary partnerships and programs at the intersection of government, industry, and academia. She is a member of the U.S. delegation to the NATO Transatlantic Quantum Community. She is on the Board of Directors of the Novo Nordisk Foundation Quantum Foundry at the University of Copenhagen and is on the International Advisory Board of the Global Research and Development Center for Business by Quantum-AI Technology (G-QuAT) at AIST in Tsukuba, Japan. She also serves on advisory boards for several other quantum research institutes. Dr. Merzbacher was the US co-chair of the Quad Investors Network Quantum Center of Excellence. Previously, Dr. Merzbacher was Vice President for Innovative Partnerships at the Semiconductor Research Corporation and Director for Strategic and Institutional Planning at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. In 2003-2008, she was Assistant Director for Technology R&D in the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy and Executive Director of the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology. At OSTP she oversaw the establishment of the U.S. National Nanotechnology Initiative. Dr. Merzbacher is a Fellow of the AAAS and served as Chair of the National Materials and Manufacturing Board of the National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine and on the Boad of Directors of ANSI. Dr. Merzbacher began her career as a materials scientist at the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory in Washington D.C., where her research led to six patents and more than 50 technical publications. She holds MS and PhD degrees in geochemistry and mineralogy from The Pennsylvania State University. 

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  • Organization
    Quantum Economic Development Consortium (QED-C)
  • Profession
    Executive Director
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OnlineGOAL 5GOAL 9
29 May 2025
13:00 - 14:00
EST - New York
CST - Beijing
PST - Los Angeles
AWST - Perth, Australia
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