Wilson White \u201903, engineer-turned-attorney-turned-high-tech-soothsayer, believes that, yes, oil and water can mix.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
White, vice president of government affairs and public policy at Google, earned a computer engineering degree at NC State and a law degree from UNC-Chapel Hill. \u201cIn both fields,\u201d he says, \u201cyou have problem solvers. I am a problem solver.\u201d Whether advising executives at Google\u2019s complex in Mountain View, Calif., counseling Google development teams or testifying before Congress, White says it helps to speak both tech and law.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
During his senior year at NC State, where he was a Park Scholar, White worked as a software developer at IBM. A mentor there who was both an engineer and attorney opened White\u2019s eyes to merging the disciplines. After law school, he worked as a patent litigator, and then was offered a job at Google as patent litigation counsel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Today, White provides regulatory and policy guidance about everything from Google Play to Fitbit. He recently advised Congress on issues surrounding smart home devices. And he\u2019s proud of helping develop Google\u2019s principles for artificial intelligence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It\u2019s White\u2019s job to think about the upsides and downsides of emerging technologies\u2009\u2014\u2009such as artificial, virtual and mixed realities, which have implications for health care, product design, manufacturing and education. \u201cLet\u2019s understand the utility and the trouble spots,\u201d he says. \u201cTechnology moves faster than lawmaking. Let\u2019s make sure that rules today are relevant in the future.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cLet\u2019s make sure that rules today are relevant in the future.\u201d
\u2013Wilson White \u201903<\/p><\/div><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\nHe considers issues like parental concerns about kids and mobile phones, as well as privacy concerns surrounding Google Maps and travelers\u2019 data. But he takes a global view of mobile technology. \u201cTechnology is the biggest driver of job creation, education, raising the standard of living,\u201d he says. \u201cI want to make sure it remains accessible to as many people as possible.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
What keeps White up at night? \u201cI worry how polarized we are, how the role of technology may be playing into this dynamic of polarization,\u201d he says. \u201cWe need to acknowledge that.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false,"raw":"\n\n\n\n\n
By Ed Williams<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
Wilson White \u201903, engineer-turned-attorney-turned-high-tech-soothsayer, believes that, yes, oil and water can mix.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
White, vice president of government affairs and public policy at Google, earned a computer engineering degree at NC State and a law degree from UNC-Chapel Hill. \u201cIn both fields,\u201d he says, \u201cyou have problem solvers. I am a problem solver.\u201d Whether advising executives at Google\u2019s complex in Mountain View, Calif., counseling Google development teams or testifying before Congress, White says it helps to speak both tech and law.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
During his senior year at NC State, where he was a Park Scholar, White worked as a software developer at IBM. A mentor there who was both an engineer and attorney opened White\u2019s eyes to merging the disciplines. After law school, he worked as a patent litigator, and then was offered a job at Google as patent litigation counsel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Today, White provides regulatory and policy guidance about everything from Google Play to Fitbit. He recently advised Congress on issues surrounding smart home devices. And he\u2019s proud of helping develop Google\u2019s principles for artificial intelligence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It\u2019s White\u2019s job to think about the upsides and downsides of emerging technologies\u2009\u2014\u2009such as artificial, virtual and mixed realities, which have implications for health care, product design, manufacturing and education. \u201cLet\u2019s understand the utility and the trouble spots,\u201d he says. \u201cTechnology moves faster than lawmaking. Let\u2019s make sure that rules today are relevant in the future.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cLet\u2019s make sure that rules today are relevant in the future.\u201d
\u2013Wilson White \u201903<\/p><\/div><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\nHe considers issues like parental concerns about kids and mobile phones, as well as privacy concerns surrounding Google Maps and travelers\u2019 data. But he takes a global view of mobile technology. \u201cTechnology is the biggest driver of job creation, education, raising the standard of living,\u201d he says. \u201cI want to make sure it remains accessible to as many people as possible.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
What keeps White up at night? \u201cI worry how polarized we are, how the role of technology may be playing into this dynamic of polarization,\u201d he says. \u201cWe need to acknowledge that.\u201d<\/p>\n"},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Wilson White \u201903 brings his computer engineering background and a law degree to work as a vice president at Google.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3736,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"views\/single-immersive.blade.php","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"source":"","ncst_custom_author":"","ncst_show_custom_author":false,"ncst_dynamicHeaderBlockName":"ncst\/default-immersive-post-header","ncst_dynamicHeaderData":"{\"showAuthor\":true,\"showDate\":true,\"showFeaturedVideo\":false,\"backgroundColor\":\"aqua_400\",\"subtitle\":\"Wilson White \u201903 brings his computer engineering background and a law degree to work as a vice president at Google. \",\"caption\":\"Photograph courtesy of Wilson White \u201903.\",\"displayCategoryID\":6}","ncst_content_audit_freq":"","ncst_content_audit_date":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5,10,8,9],"tags":[100,272,282,439,483,484,541,816,1131,1267],"_ncst_magazine_issue":[],"class_list":["post-3735","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-best-bets","category-class-act","category-newswire","category-stories","tag-artificial-intelligence","tag-college-of-engineering","tag-congress","tag-fitbit","tag-google","tag-google-play","tag-ibm","tag-mountain-view","tag-technology","tag-wilson-white"],"displayCategory":{"term_id":6,"name":"Campus Lens","slug":"campus-lens","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":6,"taxonomy":"category","description":"","parent":0,"count":1,"filter":"raw"},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/magazine.ncsu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3735"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/magazine.ncsu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/magazine.ncsu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magazine.ncsu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magazine.ncsu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3735"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/magazine.ncsu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3735\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4991,"href":"https:\/\/magazine.ncsu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3735\/revisions\/4991"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magazine.ncsu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3736"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/magazine.ncsu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3735"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magazine.ncsu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3735"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magazine.ncsu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3735"},{"taxonomy":"_ncst_magazine_issue","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magazine.ncsu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/_ncst_magazine_issue?post=3735"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}