In About Us

Margaret Pugh O’Mara

A historian of the twentieth century United States, Margaret O’Mara is an Assistant Professor of History at the University of Washington, where she also serves as an advisor for external affairs in the Office of the President .She was at Stanford and at the Bill Lane Center from 2002 to 2007, first as a Postdoctoral Fellow and then as Associate Director and Acting Assistant Professor of History.   Dr. O’Mara received her Ph.D. in History from the University of Pennsylvania in 2002. She is the author of Cities of Knowledge: Cold War Science and the Search for the Next Silicon Valley (Princeton, 2005). Her current research explores comparative urbanization and knowledge-economy development around the Pacific Rim. With Center faculty board member and Stanford professor Karen C. Seto (GES), she is leading a multi-year research project on the political, cultural, and economic drivers of urban growth in the “new Silicon Valleys” of India and China. O'Mara previously served in the White House and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services as a political aide and policy analyst, working on health care, welfare, and urban economic development programs.   More here >