Bill Bonvillian
Friends
William Boone Bonvillian was one of several Wilton High School students who accompanied Eunice Clark Jessup on a Civil Rights trip to McComb, Mississippi, in April 1965. Bonvillian's bio from his website is as follows: "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.
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.
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
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.”
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."
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.
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.
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
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.”
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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