topics. She also has interests in education and outreach and has written for popular magazines and designed Web sites permitting school children and the public to participate in a virtual research expedition. Dr. Smith has served on two advisory committees: the U.S. Science Advisory Committee and its executive committee, and currently the RIDGE 2000 executive committee.

Anne M. Linn is a senior program officer with the Board on Earth Sciences and Resources of the National Academies. She has been with the board since 1993, directing the USA World Data Center Coordination Office and staffing a wide variety of geophysical and data policy studies. In addition, she is the secretary of the International Council for Science’s (ICSU’s) Panel on World Data Centers and a member of the ICSU Ad Hoc Committee on Data. Prior to joining the staff of the National Academies, Dr. Linn was a visiting scientist at the Carnegie Institution of Washington and a postdoctoral geochemist at the University of California, Berkeley. She received a Ph.D. in geology from the University of California, Los Angeles.

Monica R. Lipscomb is a research assistant for the Board on Earth Sciences and Resources of the National Academies. She has completed her coursework for a master’s in urban and regional planning at Virginia Polytechnic Institute, with a concentration in environmental planning. Previously she served as a Peace Corps volunteer in CÔte d’Ivoire and has worked as a biologist at the National Cancer Institute. She holds a B.S. in environmental and forest biology from the State University of New York, Syracuse.