Innovation Files Creators & Guests

Dr. Margaret O'Mara (born 1970) is an American historian and professor at the University of Washington. She writes and teaches about the growth of the high-tech economy, and connections between high-tech and the history of U.S. politics.O'Mara's writing on technology, politics, and society has appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, WIRED, MIT Technology Review, and The American Prospect. Her first book, "Cities of Knowledge: Cold War Science and the Search For The Next Silicon Valley," was published in 2005. Her second book, "Pivotal Tuesdays: Four Elections that Shaped the Twentieth Century," was published in 2015. Her third book, "The Code: Silicon Valley and the Remaking of America," was published in 2019. O'Mara has also appeared on major broadcast television and radio outlets, including CNN, MSNBC, PBS, BBC, CBC, and NPR. She is a public speaker, regularly lecturing before general and academic audiences about Silicon Valley's evolution and the impact of its people, companies, and politics on the United States and the world and about the past, present, and future of the American presidency.Prior to her academic career, O'Mara served in the Clinton Administration, working on economic and social policy in the White House and in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.O'Mara received her B.A. from Northwestern University, and her M.A. and Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania.