WH Staffer Crystal Carson Shares Her Community College Story

WH Staffer Deesha Dyer Shares Her Community College Story

WH Staffer James Gleeson Shares His Community College Story

The White House invited more than 390,000 petition signers to join a call about improving community-police relations through the use of open data, demilitarizing local police forces, and other recommendations from the President's Task Force on 21st Century Policing.

How can we communicate the perspectives of the community and police to each other?

How do we make sure that police are seen as "guardians" and not "occupiers"?

How can we assure the quality of data, when the possibility of partial data exists?

What can be achieved by having police data on a national level?

Should we regulate police nationwide like our military?

Background on the Police Data Initiative

Background on the Task Force on 21st Century Policing

Megan Smith, Chief Technology Officer of the United States, calls Sword and Plough to let them know they will be attending the first ever White House Demo Day. 

CTO Megan Smith Invites Sword and Plough to White House Demo Day

Megan Smith, Chief Technology Officer of the United States, calls Pigeonly to let them know they will be attending the first ever White House Demo Day. 

CTO Megan Smith Invites Pigeonly to Demo Day

Denise Ross And Clarence Wardell On The Police Data Initiative

Six - Month Memo:  Denise Ross And Clarence Wardell On The Police Data Initiative

Chief Data Officer for Commerce Ian Kalin On Innovations At The Department Of Commerce

Six - Month Memo:  Ian Kalin On Innovations At The Department Of Commerce

Mikel Maron On Crowd-Mapping For Disaster Response

Six - Month Memo:  Mikel Maron On Crowd-Mapping For Disaster Response

In the seventh episode of Behind the Buy, U.S. CAO Anne Rung interviews GSA's Beth Hochberg on the importance of leveraging play #7 of the Digital Services Playbook.

Behind the Buy: The Importance of Bringing in Experienced Teams

Wendy Hoke of Bay Village, Ohio is battling breast cancer. She wrote the Vice President on the night of the State of the Union -- and the eve of her final chemo treatment, telling him she wanted to help with his Cancer Moonshot initiative. So he gave her a call. This is their conversation.

Vice President Biden Calls Wendy Hoke

Nine years to the day after then-Senator Obama announced his candidacy for President in 2007, President Obama sat down with former Illinois state Sen. Kirk Dillard, former Illinois state Sen. Denny Jacobs and former Illinois state Sen. Larry Walsh for a conversation conducted by Christi Parsons for the Chicago Tribune. Listen to the full conversation here and learn more about the visit at go.wh.gov/springfield.

A Conversation with President Obama on a Better Politics

The White House and the USDA traveled to Wakefield, Virginia to speak with Paul Rogers, a peanut farmer, and Dell Cotton, Executive Secretary of the Virginia Peanut Growers association, about how the President's Trade Deal will affect the peanut industry. Listen to Paul and Dell tell their stories.

Farm to Foreign Table: A Virginia Peanut Farmer on the Importance of the Trans-Pacific Partnership

In 1993, Dr. Ellen Ochoa became the first Hispanic woman to go to space when she served on a nine-day mission aboard the space shuttle Discovery. She has flown in space four times, logging nearly 1,000 hours in orbit. Prior to her astronaut career, she was a research engineer and inventor, with three patents for optical systems. Ochoa is also the first Hispanic (and second female) to be named director of NASA’s Johnson Space Center. 

With commentary from France A. Córdova, Director, National Science Foundation | Source: NASA


Ellen Ochoa (As Told by NSF Director France A. Córdova)

Mary Engle Pennington was an American chemist at the turn of the 20th century. At a time when few women attended college, Pennington completed her PhD and went on to work as a bacteriological chemist at the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Shortly after arriving at the USDA, Pennington became chief of the newly established Food Research Laboratory. During her 40-year career at the USDA, Pennington’s pioneering research on sanitary methods of processing, storing, and shipping food led to achievements such as the first standards for milk safety as well as universally accepted standards for the refrigeration of food products.

With commentary from Dr. Catherine Woteki, Chief Scientist and Under Secretary for Research, Education and Economics, United States Department of Agriculture | Source: Wikipedia via Smithsonian Institution 


Mary Engle Pennington (As Told by USDA Chief Scientist Dr. Catherine Woteki)

Mollie Orshansky was a food economist and statistician whose work on poverty thresholds pioneered the way the U.S. Government defines poverty. By using the cost of the cheapest nutritionally adequate diet to calculate a cost of living expense for families of various sizes, Orshansky developed guidelines which eventually became the federal government’s official statistical definition of poverty. Her work provided a way to assess the impact of new policies on poor populations, which to this day remains a standard measure of new policies, demonstrating the enduring impact of her work on American public policy.

With commentary from Dr. Catherine Woteki, Chief Scientist and Under Secretary for Research, Education and Economics, United States Department of Agriculture |  Source: Social Security Administration History Archives


Mollie Orshansky (As Told by USDA Chief Scientist Dr. Catherine Woteki)

Edith Clarke was a pioneering electrical engineer at the turn of the 20th century. 
She worked as a “computer,” someone who performed difficult mathematical calculations before modern-day computers and calculators were invented. Clarke struggled to find work as a female engineer instead of the ‘usual’ jobs allowed for women of her time, but became the first professionally employed female electrical engineer in the United States in 1922. She paved the way for women in STEM and engineering and was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame in 2015.

With commentary from Michelle K. Lee, Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Director of the United States Patent and Trademark Office |  Source: Wikipedia


Edith Clarke (As Told by US Patent & Trademark Office's Director Michelle K. Lee)

Virginia H. Holsinger was an American chemist known for her research on dairy products and food security issues. Holsinger developed a nutritious and shelf-stable whey and soy drink mixture that is distributed internationally by food donation programs as a substitute for milk. She also created a grain blend that can be mixed with water to provide food for victims of famine, drought, and war. Additionally, her work on the lactase enzyme formed the basis for commercial products to make milk digestible by lactose-intolerant people. Through these discoveries, Holsinger’s work has had a major impact on worldwide public health.

With commentary from Catherine Woteki, Chief Scientist and Under Secretary for Research, Education and Economics, United States Department of Agriculture |  Source: ARS.USDA.gov


Virginia Holsinger (As Told by USDA Chief Scientist Dr. Catherine Woteki)

Ruth Rogan Benerito was an American chemist and pioneer in bioproducts. Benerito is credited with saving the cotton industry in post-WWII America through her discovery of a process to produce wrinkle-free, stain-free, and flame-resistant cotton fabrics. In addition to this work, Benerito also developed a method to harvest fats from seeds for use in intravenous feeding of medical patients. This system became the foundation for the system we use today. After retiring from the USDA and teaching university courses for an additional eleven years, Benerito received the Lemelson-MIT Lifetime Achievement Award both for her contributions to the textile industry and her commitment to education.
With commentary from Dr. Catherine Woteki, Chief Scientist and Under Secretary for Research, Education and Economics, United States Department of Agriculture |  Source: ARS.USDA.gov


Ruth Rogan Benerito (As Told by USDA Chief Scientist Dr. Catherine Woteki)

Lillian Moller Gilbreth was an American psychologist and industrial engineer at the turn of the 20th century. She was an expert in efficiency and organizational psychology, the principles of which she applied not only as a management consultant for major corporations, but also to her household of twelve children, as chronicled in the book Cheaper by the Dozen. Her long list of firsts includes first female commencement speaker at the University of California, first female engineering professor at Purdue, and first woman elected to the National Academy of Engineering. 

With commentary from Amy S. Hess, Executive Assistant Director, Science and Technology Branch, Federal Bureau of Investigation |  Source: Wikipedia


Lillian Gilbreth (As Told By FBI Executive Assistant Director Amy Hess)

Isolating enriched uranium was one of the most difficult aspects of the Manhattan Project, which produced the first nuclear bombs during World War II. Wartime labor shortages led the Tennessee Eastman Company to recruit young women, who were mostly recent high school graduates, to operate the calutrons that used electromagnetic separation to isolate uranium. Despite being kept in the dark on the specifics of the project, the “Calutron Girls” proved to be highly adept at operating the instruments and optimizing uranium production, achieving better rates for production than the male scientists they worked with. 
	
With commentary from La Doris "Dot" Harris, Director, Office of Economic Impact and Diversity, U.S. Department of Energy |  Source: DOE.GOV  LANL.GOV


Calutron Girls (As Told by DOE's La Doris "Dot" Harris)

Ana Roqué de Duprey was born in Puerto Rico in 1853. She started a school in her home at age 13 and wrote a geography textbook for her students, which was later adopted by the Department of Education of Puerto Rico.  Roqué had a passion for astronomy and education, founding several girls-only schools as well as the College of Mayagüez, which later became the Mayagüez Campus of the University of Puerto Rico. Roqué wrote the Botany of the Antilles, the most comprehensive study of flora in the Caribbean at the beginning of the 20th century, and was also instrumental in the fight for the Puerto Rican woman’s right to vote.
  
With commentary from Frances A. Colón, Deputy Science and Technology Adviser to the Secretary of State, United States Department of State |  Source: General Archives of Puerto Rico


Ana Roqué de Duprey (As Told by Secretary of State Science and Tech Advisor Frances A. Colón)

Ana Roque de Duprey nació en Puerto Rico en el año 1853. A los 13 años de edad comenzó una escuela en su casa y escribió un libro de geografía para sus estudiantes, que posteriormente fue adoptado por el Departamento de Educación de Puerto Rico. Roqué sostenía una gran pasión por la astronomía y la educación, eventualmente fundo varias escuelas para mujeres, así como el Colegio de Mayagüez, que más tarde se convirtió en el Recinto de Mayagüez de la Universidad de Puerto Rico. Roqué escribió la Botánica Antillana, el estudio más completo de la flora en el Caribe a principios del siglo 20, y también tuvo un papel decisivo en la lucha de la mujer puertorriqueña por el derecho a votar.


Ana Roqué de Duprey  (en Español)

In the latest addition to the Being Biden series, the Vice President reflects on meeting with survivors of sexual assault -- and why it is so vital that every one of us take ownership of preventing it on college campuses and everywhere.

Being Biden Vol. 21: It's on ALL of Us

This is an archive of an Obama Administration account and is maintained by the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA).

Obama White House

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