Writer · Researcher · Founder · Systems Thinker
Working at the intersection of public policy, applied intelligence, and systems design. Author of The Machinery of Democracy. Managing Director of HarnessAI. Co-founder of Xylogenics. Mira Award recipient for Clean Technology Energy Innovation.
Dr. Cary Woods is a researcher, writer, teacher, and founder whose work examines how large systems behave once theory meets operational reality. His book, The Machinery of Democracy, treats American democracy as infrastructure: physical, digital, and human. It traces how systems of power operate, decay, and persist over time.
His background spans nearly two decades in bioengineering and computational biology. As co-founder of Xylogenics, he helped engineer yeast strains that improve the efficiency and sustainability of ethanol production from biomass, work recognized with the Mira Award for Clean Technology Energy Innovation and protected by an international patent portfolio.
Through HarnessAI, his current consultancy, Dr. Woods deploys custom data solutions for small businesses, nonprofits, and public agencies, grounded in grounded in ethical AI standards and measurable community impact. He serves on the Scientific Advisory Board at Bioscope.ai, an AI-enabled precision health platform, and is developing AI curriculum for university instruction.
His writing spans public policy, systems biology, artificial intelligence, and institutional design. He writes the Breaking Barriers blog daily and produces the What Still Works in America newsletter series on LinkedIn. He is interested in conversations that take complexity seriously and resist simple answers to structural problems.
Most of the best projects start with a short conversation. Whether you need a few hours of focused thinking or a long-term research partner, reach out. The scope can always be sized to fit.
Consulting inquiries, research collaboration, speaking engagements, and writing commissions are all welcome. Response time is typically within one business day.