Edward G. McGinnis
Executive Director of the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST);
Director for the Office of Engineering and Technology
Office of Science, Department of Energy
1000 Independence Avenue, SW
Washington, D.C. 20585-1290
Email: Edward.G.McGinnis@ostp.eop.gov
Primary work location: Washington, DC
Mr. Edward McGinnis is on detail to the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy as the Executive Director of the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST). PCAST is an advisory group of the nation’s leading scientists and engineers, appointed by the President to augment the science and technology advice available to him from inside the White House and from cabinet departments and other federal agencies. From 2017-2019, Mr. McGinnis served as the U.S. Department of Energy’s Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Nuclear Energy and for a period of time Acting Assistant Secretary of Energy, where he led the Department’s nuclear energy R&D activities, spearheaded multiple science and technology-based nuclear energy initiatives to support the revitalization of the US nuclear energy sector, and served as the steward of the Department’s lead civil nuclear energy laboratory – Idaho National Laboratory.
From 2007-2017, Mr. McGinnis led the U.S. Department of Energy’s international nuclear energy cooperation, including R&D collaboration with over a dozen countries, served as founding chair of a 60+ nation international nuclear energy organization (International Framework for Nuclear Energy Cooperation), and served as Vice Chair of the Generation IV International Forum which focused on next generation nuclear reactor designs. Prior to this, he served in numerous positions within the Department of Energy’s national nuclear security programs, including having served as the founding director of the Secretary of Energy’s Nuclear and Radiological Threat Reduction Task Force. He holds a master’s degree from The American University, an undergraduate degree from Eastern Michigan University, and two executive education certificates from Harvard University.
