Tara Lanigan is the Senior Director for Strategic Partnerships at the Center for Smart Streetscapes (CS3), a National Science Foundation (NSF) Engineering Research Center at Columbia Engineering. She previously served as a Presidential Management Fellow (PMF) and Policy Advisor in the U.S. Department of Transportation's Office of the Assistant Secretary for Research and Technology, where she helped launch the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law's Strengthening Mobility and Revolutionizing Transportation (SMART) grant program, supporting technology innovation by state and local governments. During her fellowship, she also served as Deputy Director for Sustainability at the White House Council on Environmental Quality. Prior to federal service, Tara led policy and business development at May Mobility, an autonomous vehicle company, and held roles at venture-backed technology startups. She holds an MPA and a B.A. in Political Science from the University of Michigan.