Cara LaPointe

Cara LaPointe is a futurist who explores how the intersection between technology, policy, ethics and leadership can shape a better future for humanity. She currently serves as the US Department of the Navy’s Director of Strategic Assessment. At Georgetown University, she teaches Science, Technology, and International Affairs as an Adjunct Professor within the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service. Prior to returning to government, she co-founded the Johns Hopkins Institute for Assured Autonomy, a research center dedicated to making autonomous technologies safe, secure, ethical and trustworthy.

As a global expert on autonomy, artificial intelligence, blockchain, and other frontier technologies, Cara advises and speaks at various international organizations, such as the United Nations, the World Bank, the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development and the United States’ National Academy of Medicine. She has previously served in the White House under three administrations and as a member of the President’s Commission on White House Fellowships and the Department of the Navy’s Science and Technology Board. She holds degrees from the United States Naval Academy, the University of Oxford, the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.