"How can we expect to be a superpower and a great nation if our leaders don’t understand the very foundations of our growth – technology and innovation?” Claire Tomkins asked in her Engineers Breakfast keynote address, “Why We Need an Engineer in the White House.”
Specializing in clean technology, systems engineering and business management, Tomkins has been instrumental in a number of startups and is on the management team of Richard Branson’s clean-tech accelerator, the Carbon War Room. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in systems and industrial engineering and public policy from the UA and a doctorate from Stanford University.
“Only about 10 percent of members of Congress have backgrounds in science, technology, engineering or math,"" she said. “As a technological and science-based society, we need to elect leaders who understand technology and know how to leverage data. We engineers see the world a certain way. We are practical and disciplined. We build things and fix things."
“In some ways, that’s a good job description for a president.”
Tomkins was speaking at the UA College of Engineering’s homecoming breakfast on Oct. 28, 2016.