Get to know your new CTO

Newly named federal Chief Technology Officer Megan Smith is well-known in Silicon Valley circles, but the Google executive and MIT alumna is still something of a mystery to many in federal IT. So until she begins making the agency rounds, here is a taste of what makes her tick.

In this short video from February 2014, Smith discusses the importance of STEM education, and of getting more women into those fields:

And lest anyone doubt Smith's longstanding techie cred, there's this video dating back to 1992. Posted by documentary filmmaker David Hoffman, the clip shows Smith in her days as an engineer with General Magic, an early pioneer of personal digital assistant and smartphone technologies:

The tech itself may have evolved -- shoebox-sized smartphone, anyone? -- but Hoffman says that Smith conveys "that same youthful energy and enthusiasm" today. And the talk of moving fast and buying IT off the shelf sounds straight out of 2014.