Dr. Jeff Waksman, Ph.D.

Dr. Jeff Waksman is a program manager for the Strategic Capabilities Office in the Office of the Secretary of Defense, where he leads Project Pele. Prior to this job, Dr. Waksman was a Science and Technology Fellow in the office of Representative David Schweikert where he worked with key stakeholders in science and technology areas such as information technology, cryptography, and blockchain; in this role, he helped the House Science, Space & Technology Committee move forward with the National Quantum Computing Initiative. Dr. Waksman has also worked for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration where he served as Executive Secretary/Designated Federal Officer, National Space Council Users’ Advisory Group. In this role, he assisted in the creation of and wrote the charter for the Users’ Advisory Group. Prior to his federal service, he was employed in the private sector for IBM, where he was a staff scientist working on advanced semiconductor programs such as quantum computing and heterogeneous integration. Dr. Waksman earned his Bachelor Science in Applied Physics from Columbia University, and he holds masters’ degrees in both Physics and Nuclear Engineering as a well as doctorate in Physics from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.