# Eric Lander

> Eric Steven Lander is an American mathematician, geneticist and scientific institution builder who co-founded Pacific Fusion in 2023 and serves as its CEO. A principal leader of the Human Genome Project and founding director of the Broad Institute, he previously co-chaired President Obama’s science advisory council and served as President Biden’s science adviser and OSTP director. His current company is developing pulser-driven fusion systems and targeting net facility gain by 2030.

- **Role:** Co-founder and CEO at Pacific Fusion
- **Organizations:** Pacific Fusion, Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Harvard University, Whitehead Institute, Science for America, White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology
- **From:** Brooklyn, New York, United States
- **Nationality:** American
- **Education:** High school diploma, Stuyvesant High School, B.A. in mathematics, Princeton University, D.Phil. in mathematics; Rhodes Scholar, University of Oxford
- **Known for:** Principal leader of the international Human Genome Project., Founding director of the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard., 1974 Westinghouse Science Talent Search winner.

## Career timeline

- **1974** — Won the Westinghouse Science Talent Search and a silver medal at the International Mathematical Olympiad.
- **1978** — Graduated from Princeton as valedictorian and received the Pyne Prize.
- **1981** — Completed his Oxford mathematics doctorate and began teaching managerial economics at Harvard Business School.
- **1986** — Joined the Whitehead Institute as a fellow.
- **1987** — Received a MacArthur Fellowship.
- **1990** — Founded the Whitehead/MIT Center for Genome Research; became an MIT biology professor.
- **2003-2004** — Became founding director of the newly created Broad Institute, formally launched in 2004.
- **2009-2017** — Co-chaired President Obama’s President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology.
- **2021-2022** — Served as President Biden’s science adviser and director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy.
- **2022** — Resigned following a White House workplace-policy investigation; launched Science for America.
- **2023** — Co-founded Pacific Fusion.
- **2024** — Pacific Fusion publicly launched with more than $900 million in milestone-based Series A commitments.
- **2026** — Pacific Fusion reported pulser prototype progress and broke ground on its Albuquerque campus.

## Achievements

- Principal leader of the international Human Genome Project.
- Founding director of the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard.
- 1974 Westinghouse Science Talent Search winner.
- 1974 International Mathematical Olympiad silver medalist.
- 1978 Princeton valedictorian and Pyne Prize recipient.
- 1987 MacArthur Fellow.
- Elected to the U.S. National Academy of Sciences in 1997.
- 2013 Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences recipient.
- 2016 MIT James R. Killian Jr. Faculty Achievement Award recipient.

## Latest updates

- **2026-08** — Pacific Fusion announced the groundbreaking of its $1 billion-scale Research and Manufacturing Campus at Mesa del Sol in Albuquerque; its Demonstration System targets net facility gain by 2030.
- **2026-07** — LLNL and Pacific Fusion reported that the Sirius pulsed-power prototype had surpassed 3,000 test shots in a reliability campaign.
- **2026-06** — Pacific Fusion announced completion of its second set of technical milestones and validation of a scaled pulser-module prototype; it reported a team of more than 200.

## Links

- Website: https://www.broadinstitute.org/bios/eric-s-lander
- Twitter/X: https://x.com/eric_lander

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/eric-lander
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-10-25