Lisa Einstein to Lead Artificial Intelligence Efforts at Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency
Lisa Einstein to Lead Artificial Intelligence Efforts at Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency
Einstein, an alumna of the Ford Dorsey Master's in International Policy, was Stanford’s first dual master’s degree recipient in computer science (artificial intelligence concentration) and international policy (cyber policy and security specialization).
The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) has named Lisa Einstein as its first chief artificial intelligence officer. Einstein graduated from the Ford Dorsey Master’s in International Policy program at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies in 2020.
CISA is the operational lead for federal cybersecurity and the national coordinator for critical infrastructure security and resilience. Einstein previously served as the agency’s senior advisor for AI, and since 2022 has served as CISA’s executive director of its cybersecurity advisory committee.
“I care deeply about CISA’s mission – if we succeed, the critical systems that Americans rely on every day will become safer, more reliable, and more capable,” said Einstein in CISA’s news release. “AI tools could accelerate our progress. But we will only reap their benefits and avoid harms from their misapplication or abuse if we all work together to prioritize safety, security, and trustworthiness in the development and deployment of AI tools.”
CISA noted that it established this new position that Einstein will fill to augment and govern its own uses of AI and to ensure that critical infrastructure partners develop and adopt AI in ways that are safe and secure.
"We are very proud of Lisa Einstein being named chief AI officer at the Cyber Infrastructure Security Agency,” said Francis Fukuyama, Ford Dorsey Master’s in International Policy program. “Lisa was in one of the first MIP cohorts to go through our Policy Problem-Solving capstone sequence, and she went on to deepen her understanding of cyber issues at Stanford. We wish her the best in her new role and her future service to the country."
![Lisa Einstein [second from left] onstage at the Predict2024 Conference with Jennifer Bachus, Michael Duffy, and Jonathan Luff.](https://fsi9-prod.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.com/s3fs-public/styles/680x378_x2/public/2024-10/mip_lisa_einstein_cisa_ai_getty_hero.png?itok=1hcJwc7y)
Einstein was Stanford’s first dual master’s degree recipient in computer science (artificial intelligence concentration) and international policy (cyber policy and security specialization). While a student at MIP, she led H.R. McMaster’s research team on emerging technologies and geopolitics while conducting AI research. In that role, she co-developed the first AI speech recognition models for three West African languages spoken by 10 million people in seven countries.
As a student during the COVID-19 pandemic, Einstein helped to organize a virtual class that taught introductory coding skills to 22,000 students in148 countries by mobilizing 2,000 volunteer teaching assistants.
In 2021, Einstein was part of the MIP team that collaborated in exceptional ways to help extract at-risk Afghan civilians before and after the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan during that time period.
“Afghans who have been trying to leave Afghanistan fought bravely alongside U.S. troops against the Taliban and al-Qaeda. They are committed allies to the United States and unwavering in their friendship. They are journalists trying to hold power to account and girls longing to continue their education,” Einstein said in an interview with the Hoover Institution in 2021. “These Afghans are the courageous heroes of this story.”
She is currently a part-time research advisor in the Stanford Intelligent Systems Laboratory.
Prior to Stanford, Einstein served in the Peace Corps in 2016 and spent two years in West Africa as a part of former First Lady Michelle Obama’s Let Girls Learn initiative, where she assisted adolescent girls on issues related to global education and developmental challenges. A researcher and writer, she has authored numerous articles for Scientific American based on her experiences there.
In returning to Stanford for the MIP program after being out of school for five years, Einstein sought to blend her field experiences with a global view of geopolitics, economics and development. She said she was eager to learn more about international affairs at the graduate school level – during her Peace Corps service, she read more than one hundred books about international affairs, development, entrepreneurship, politics, and leadership, all of which piqued her interest in advanced studies.
A creative, entrepreneurial spirit and a deep sense of humanity underscores Einstein’s career path. In a MIP student profile, she reflected on her experience in the program. “There’s this sense of possibility – this sense of ‘if this is your idea, just do it,’” said Einstein.
The Ford Dorsey Master's in International Policy (MIP) is a two-year, full-time, professional graduate degree program. The M.A. degree is earned through completion of core and elective coursework, an area of specialization, and a capstone project. The program is interdisciplinary in nature, and students are encouraged to pursue coursework that spans academic fields at Stanford.
