Colin McCormick is partner and chief technologist at Valence Strategic. As senior advisor for R&D at the U.S. Department of Energy McCormick served as primary science advisor to the U.S. Department of Energy for energy innovation from 2010 to 2013. He has an extensive background in technology analysis in energy, robotics, and computer vision. His current research focus is on the implications of artificial intelligence in a range of fields, particularly transportation and satellite imagery analysis. He also conducts computer vision research relating to change detection in aerial imagery. McCormick has published in a range of venues including both academic journals and general interest publications such as Fortune, Slate, and the New Yorker. Previously, he was a professional staff member for the House Science & Technology Committee. McCormick has a Ph.D. in atomic and optical physics from UC Berkeley and conducted post-doctoral research in quantum optics at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) in the group of 1997 Physics Nobel Laureate Bill Phillips.