Deborah Frincke, associate laboratories director of national security programs, has been appointed to the National Quantum Initiative Advisory Committee.

As a member of this presidential advisory committee, Deborah will help provide an independent assessment of the National Quantum Initiative Program, which was established in 2019 to maintain U.S. leadership in quantum information science and its technology applications and to make recommendations to the nation’s highest offices for future revisions to the program.

President Joe Biden announced the appointment in December.

“Quantum science and technology are believed to have enormous potential in a wide variety of sectors,” Deborah said. “Quantum computing, imaging and sensors are among the areas where important breakthroughs may lead to significant advances. It is an honor to be part of the NQIAC, designed to both advise the president and to represent the needs of industries, universities and federal laboratories.”

Deborah is a seasoned leader in national security research. At Sandia, she steers and oversees projects for the DOD, the U.S. intelligence community and the DOE in areas such as hypersonic flight systems, cybersecurity, advanced radar, microelectronics, threat intelligence, machine learning and quantum science. She also recently concluded a term on the NATO Advisory Group on Emerging and Disruptive Technologies.

Formerly, she served as the associate laboratory director for national security sciences at Oak Ridge National Laboratory and held several senior executive positions at the National Security Agency, including director of research, where she also served as a past co-chair of the White House committee on the Economic and Security Implications of Quantum.

Deborah is a fellow of the Association for Computing Machinery and holds a doctorate in computer science and security from the University of California, Davis.