Patricia Gruber is serving as the Science and Technology Adviser to the Secretary of State.  In this role, she engages with academic and private sector research communities to inform foreign policy priorities and promote international science and technology collaboration.

Dr. Gruber served as the Director of Research at the Office of Naval Research (ONR) with responsibility for the Dept. of Navy fundamental research portfolio, balancing critical investments in future capabilities with exploration of high risk, emerging technologies.  In this role, she also led the development of the Naval S&T Strategic Plan, initiated the Basic Science of Autonomy program and coordinated ONR’s education, outreach and diversity programs.  More recently, she served as Technical Director for ONR Global, leading a group of fifty scientists and engineers who facilitated international research collaboration and acted as technical liaisons to operational fleet/forces.  She had oversight of the Navy’s International Science Program which awarded over 200 grants per year across a wide range of technologies and partner nations.  Prior to ONR Global, she was Vice President/General Manager of Maritime Systems at Battelle and the Deputy Director at the Applied Research Laboratory at the Pennsylvania State University.  She has held a number of technical management and business development positions at AT&T, Lucent Technologies and Marconi Communications.

Dr. Gruber received a M.S. and Ph.D. in Applied Marine Physics from the University of Miami and a B.S. in Meteorology from the Pennsylvania State University.   She conducted research in marine science at the Naval Research Laboratory and Bell Laboratories.