About

Far and away, the greatest prize that life has to offer is the chance to work hard at work worth doing.
— Theodore Roosevelt

Achieving the Dream's DREAM Conference in Chicago, IL.

Shalin Jyotishi is a nationally recognized researcher, writer, and strategist in economic development, workforce development, and emerging technology policy. He is the Founder and Managing Director of the Future of Work and Innovation Economy (FOWIE) initiative at New America—a policy research, practice change, and storytelling program dedicated to ensuring that technological innovation and tech-based growth translates into economic security and well-being for workers and families

He is also a Visiting Scholar and Faculty at Arizona State University’s Consortium for Science, Policy, and Outcomes and a  Forbes Contributor covering higher education, labor, and workforce issues relating to science, industrial, and innovation policy.

Shalin Jyotishi and U.S. National Science Foundation Director Sethuraman Panchanathan at New America in Washington, DC on June 6, 2024.

A seasoned industry analyst and commentator, Shalin’s expertise has appeared in global media outlets including Financial Times, NPR, Politico, USA Today, Washington Post, and Marketplace.

Shalin Jyotishi joins EdSurge and an expert panel at the 2024 SXSW Festival in Austin, Texas.

A sought-after speaker and facilitator, Shalin has delivered more than 500 invited keynotes, presentations, and talks for corporate, academic, policy, media, and non-profit leaders and for general audiences on high-level stages, including at Davos, United Nations, OECD, the World Bank, U.S. National Academies, SXSW, ASU-GSV.

Shalin has been appointed to advisory boards for the Bipartisan Policy Center, Education Writers Association, U.S. National Science Foundation, MIT Science Policy Review, UN International Telecommunications Unions, International Economic Development Council, American Enterprise Institute, George Washington University’s Institute for Public Policy, Georgetown University’s Center on Security and Emerging Technology, Strada Education Foundation’s Credlens, and Arizona State University’s Future of Being Human Initiative.

Previously, Shalin was the first civil society Fellow on the AI team at the World Economic Forum, where he pioneered the forum’s research and storytelling portfolio focused on AI and job quality, years before ChatGPT was introduced. He was also a Visiting Scholar in Science and Technology Policy at the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the world’s largest membership association of scientists, where he conducted research and co-authored a book on science and technology policy (Forthcoming MIT Press).

Jyotishi testifies before the U.S. House Appropriations Committee in 2026.

Before that, Shalin built and led teams and a dozen initiatives at the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities, North America’s oldest presidential higher education association, that advised and empowered more than a hundred university presidents and senior executives on proactive economic and workforce development and R&D innovation strategy and implementation. He also led a number of sensemaking, advocacy, and research projects focused on technology transfer, industry partnerships, work-based learning, entrepreneurship ecosystem building, and embedding industry certifications in degrees.

Shalin served as the CEO and Managing Publisher of the internationally acclaimed Journal of Science Policy & Governance. He led the non-profit to double the journal’s staff and publishing frequency and pioneered global partnerships with the U.K. government, the United Nations, and the Kavli Foundation. Before that, he worked on science policy research alongside government, academia, industry, philanthropy, and media executives at the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the nation’s oldest learned society.

He began his career as a science and innovation policy researcher at the University of Michigan. Shalin earned his B.S. from the University of Georgia and earned his M.S. from Arizona State University and served as a University Innovation Fellow at Stanford University. Shalin’s latest work can be found on the New America website on LinkedIn, Twitter, Bluesky, and YouTube.