WASHINGTON—Dr. Monisha Ghosh has been appointed to serve as the FCC’s new Chief Technology Officer—the first woman to hold the position—with responsibilities for advising Chairman Ajit Pai on technology and engineering matters and working closely with the agency’s Office of Engineering and Technology.
“As the FCC moves aggressively to advance American leadership in 5G, Dr. Ghosh’s deep technical knowledge of wireless technologies will be invaluable,” said Chairman Pai. “Dr. Ghosh has both conducted and overseen research into cutting-edge wireless issues in academia and industry,” said Pai.
With a broad range of experience, ranging from broadcast standards, medical telemetry and the Internet of Things, Ghosh is becoming the senior technology expert at the FCC.
“[I]t bears noting that this is an historic appointment,” said Pai. “I am proud that Dr. Ghosh will be the FCC’s first female CTO, and hope her example inspires young women everywhere to consider careers in STEM fields.”
Ghosh replaces Dr. Eric Burger, who has serviced at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy since October. Ghosh takes the reins Jan. 13, 2020.
Since September 2017, Ghosh has served as a rotating program director at the National Science Foundation in the Computer and Network System Division within the Directorate of Computer and Information Science and Engineering. There, she managed the core wireless research portfolio and special programs like Machine Learning for Wireless Networking Systems. She is also a research professor at the University of Chicago where she conducts research on wireless technologies for the Internet of Things, 5G cellular, next-gen Wi-Fi systems and spectrum coexistence, the agency said.
A contributor to multiple industry standards, Ghosh has worked at Interdigital, Philips Research and Bell Laboratories on wireless system, including the HDTV broadcast standard, the FCC said.
Ghosh received her Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from the University of Southern California in 1991, and her B. Tech from the Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur (India) in 1986. She is a Fellow of the IEEE.
More information is available on the FCC website.
