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Sustainable Infrastructures for Life Science Communication: Workshop Summary (2014)

Chapter: Appendix C--Biographies of Workshop Speakers, Panelists, Moderators, and Planning Committee Members

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Suggested Citation:"Appendix C--Biographies of Workshop Speakers, Panelists, Moderators, and Planning Committee Members." National Research Council. 2014. Sustainable Infrastructures for Life Science Communication: Workshop Summary. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/18728.
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Appendix C
Biographies of Workshop Speakers, Panelists, Moderators, and Planning Committee Members

May Berenbaum has been on the faculty of the Department of Entomology at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) since 1980, has served as head of the department since 1992, and has held the Swanlund Chair of Entomology since 1996. Her research focuses on insect chemical ecology and practical application of ecological principles toward sustainable management practices. In addition to her research, she is devoted to public engagement in science; she has authored numerous magazine articles, as well as six books, for the general public about insects and has founded several outreach and citizen science activities, including the UIUC Insect Fear Film Festival, Beespotter, and the UI Pollinatarium. She was elected to the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) in 1994, and currently chairs the NAS Koshland Science Museum Advisory Board, cochairs the NAS Roundtable on Public Interfaces of the Life Sciences, and serves on the advisory board for the NAS Division on Earth and Life Studies. She has chaired both the National Research Council Board on Agriculture and Natural Resources and the Committee on the Status of Pollinators in North America and has testified before Congress on issues relating to honey bee health and pollinator decline. In 2009, she received the American Association for the Advancement of Science Public Engagement with Science Award in recognition of her public communication efforts, and in 2011, she received the Tyler Prize for Environmental Achievement.

Donald F. Boesch is a professor of marine science and president of the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science, which operates four research laboratories throughout the state. He also serves as vice chancellor for Environmental Sustainability for the University System of Maryland. His research focuses on estuarine and coastal ecosystems in the Mid-Atlantic region, Gulf of Mexico, Australia, and China. He is one of the nation’s most recognized and experienced experts in the application of science to policies for the protection, sustainable use, and restoration of coastal ecosystems and for adaptation to global climate change. He has been an official advisor to federal agencies, the Chesapeake Bay Program, and four Maryland governors as a member of the Governor’s Bay Cabinet. He was one of seven members appointed by President Obama to the National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill. He currently serves on the Advisory Group for the Gulf of Mexico Program at the National Academy of Sciences. He holds a B.S. in biology from Tulane University and a Ph.D. in oceanography from the College of William and Mary.

Rick Borchelt is director of communications and public affairs at the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science. He has had a varied career in science communications and public policy, including stints as media relations director for the National Academy of Sciences (NAS); press secretary for the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Science, Space, and Technology under the chairmanship of the late Rep. George E. Brown, Jr.; special assistant for public affairs in the Executive Office of the President during the Clinton Administration; director of communications and public affairs at The Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research at Massachusetts Institute of Technology; special assistant for public affairs to the director of the National Cancer Institute at the National Institutes of Health; and communications director for the research, education, and economics mission area of U.S. Department of Agriculture. He has been active in science writing throughout his career. He was an elected member of the boards of both the Council for the Advancement of Science

Suggested Citation:"Appendix C--Biographies of Workshop Speakers, Panelists, Moderators, and Planning Committee Members." National Research Council. 2014. Sustainable Infrastructures for Life Science Communication: Workshop Summary. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/18728.
×

Writing and the National Association of Science Writers and president of the DC Science Writers Association. He serves on the NAS Roundtable on Public Interfaces in the Life Sciences, and previously served on the National Academy of Engineering committee on Developing Effective Messages for Improving Public Understanding of Engineering. He is an amateur naturalist and has done graduate work in insect systematics.

Dominique Brossard is professor and chair in the Department of Life Sciences Communication at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. She also leads the Societal Implications of Nanotechnology group in the National Science Foundation-funded Nanoscale Science and Engineering Center. Her research focuses on the intersection between science, media, and policy, with an emphasis on public opinion dynamics in the context of controversial scientific innovations, such as biotechnology, stem cell research, nanotechnology, and nuclear energy. She is also interested in understanding the role of values in shaping public attitudes and in cross-cultural analysis of these processes, with a special emphasis on the online environment.

John Burris is president of the Burroughs Wellcome Fund. He is the former president of Beloit College. Prior to his appointment at Beloit in 2000, he served for 8 years as director and CEO of the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole, Massachusetts. From 1984 to 1992, he was at the National Research Council where he served as the executive director of the Commission on Life Sciences. A native of Wisconsin, John received an A.B. in biology from Harvard University, attended the University of Wisconsin–Madison in an M.D.-Ph.D. program, and received a Ph.D. in marine biology from the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California, San Diego. As a professor of biology at the Pennsylvania State University from 1976 to 1985, he held an adjunct appointment there until going to Beloit. John’s research interests were in the areas of marine and terrestrial plant physiology and ecology. He has served as president of the American Institute of Biological Sciences and is or has been a member of a number of distinguished scientific boards and advisory committees including the Grass Foundation; the Stazione Zoologica “Anton Dohrn” in Naples, Italy; the American Association for the Advancement of Science; and the Radiation Effects Research Foundation in Hiroshima, Japan. He has also served as a consultant to the National Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on Science and Human Values.

Daniel A. Colón-Ramos is an associate professor at Yale University, where he directs a lab to study the development of the nervous system. His research focuses on how neurons choose specific connections in the developing animal as they assemble into a functioning brain and how these connections change during behavior and learning. His scientific work has been recognized with a number of awards, including the Sloan Research Fellowship for “outstanding promise.” Daniel is also the cofounder of Ciencia Puerto Rico, a nonprofit organization that promotes scientific research and education, particularly among Hispanics. In 2011, his outreach and scientific work were recognized by the American Association for the Advancement of Science with the Early Career Award for Public Engagement with Science. Daniel was born and raised in Puerto Rico. He studied biology at Harvard University and obtained his Ph.D. from Duke University in molecular biology and genetics.

David Ewing Duncan is an award-winning, best-selling author; a journalist; and a television, radio, and film producer and correspondent. His most recent books are When I'm 164: The New Science of Radical Life Extension, and What Happens if It Succeeds. He also wrote Experimental Man: What One Man’s Body Reveals About His Future, Your Health, and Our Toxic World. He is a correspondent for The Atlantic and the chief correspondent for NPR

Suggested Citation:"Appendix C--Biographies of Workshop Speakers, Panelists, Moderators, and Planning Committee Members." National Research Council. 2014. Sustainable Infrastructures for Life Science Communication: Workshop Summary. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/18728.
×

Talk’s Biotech Nation; he also writes for The New York Times, Fortune, Wired, National Geographic, Discover, and many other publications. He is also the founding director of the Center of Life Science Policy at University of California, Berkeley, and has been a commentator on NPR’s Morning Edition and a contributing editor for Wired, Discover, and Conde Nast Portfolio. He is a former special correspondent and producer for ABC’s Nightline and a correspondent for NOVA’s ScienceNOW! The recipient of numerous awards, including Magazine Story of the Year from the American Association for the Advancement of Science, his work has appeared twice in The Best American Science and Nature Writing. He is a member of the San Francisco Writers’ Grotto, a workspace cooperative that also includes Po Bronson, Caroline Paul, and Tom Barbash, among others. He is the founder and former director of The BioAgenda Institute for Life Science Policy, a San Francisco–based nonprofit think tank that held summits, panels, and discussions and sponsored white papers on important issues in the life sciences between 2003 and 2007. In 2011, he launched The Personalized Health Project, sponsored by The Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation. He regularly lectures at Singularity University.

Chad English directs COMPASS’s work to build constructive dialogue between scientists and the policy and management communities. In this capacity, he designs venues and opportunities to bring scientists and policy makers together for conversations that drive new thinking and new approaches to natural resource policy. He also organizes and runs communications workshops and training that help researchers find the core relevance of their work and share that effectively with policy and management communities. Prior to his transition to policy work, he received his Ph.D. from Scripps Institution of Oceanography studying how the coastal ocean responds to upwelling winds. He first came to Washington, D.C., to serve a John A. Knauss Marine Policy Fellowship in the Senate Commerce Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation. Following his fellowship, he worked for the House Committee on Science on issues such as ocean science, natural resource management, and science and technology policy. He also has a bachelor’s degree in physics from the University of California, Santa Cruz, and worked at the U.S. Geological Survey, where he supported operational models of the San Francisco Bay to aid navigation, commerce, and recreation.

Kathryn Foxhall has been a reporter focusing on health and health policy issues in Washington for about 37 years. She was previously editor of The Nation’s Health, the newspaper of the American Public Health Association (1978–1992). She has also reported for newsletters on reimbursement and on substance abuse, as well as for the magazine of the American Psychological Association. She has been a freelance reporter for 12 years, writing for health care trade publications.

Diane Harley is the director of the Higher Education in the Digital Age project at the Center for Studies in Higher Education at the University of California (UC), Berkeley. In this role, she has created and directed research initiatives focusing on the policy implications of integrating information and communication technologies into complex academic environments. She is a biosocial anthropologist with a Ph.D. in anthropology from UC Berkeley; her approach emphasizes the concurrent analysis of social, economic, and academic costs and benefits of new media in scholarship. She is currently serving as chair of the UC Academic Senate Blue Ribbon Panel on Evaluation of the University of California Online Instruction Pilot Project and UC Online. She has also developed multimedia education programs and managed partnerships with the California and Florida departments of education, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the National Science Foundation, ABC News Interactive, and various universities, publishers, and software developers. Her publications

Suggested Citation:"Appendix C--Biographies of Workshop Speakers, Panelists, Moderators, and Planning Committee Members." National Research Council. 2014. Sustainable Infrastructures for Life Science Communication: Workshop Summary. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/18728.
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and presentations span the fields of higher education policy, scholarly communication, educational technology, biological anthropology, and the evolution of human and nonhuman primate biosocial behavior.

Kei Koizumi is assistant director for federal research and development at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy. Before joining the Office of Science and Technology Policy in 2009, he served as the director of the R&D Budget and Policy Program at the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He received his M.A. from the Center for International Science, Technology, and Public Policy program at George Washington University and received his B.A. in political science and economics from Boston University. He is a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Kai N. Lee leads the Science subprogram in Conservation and Science at the David and Lucile Packard Foundation. The Science subprogram provides support for science that informs decision making in the near term, advancing the strategies guiding the conservation activities of the Foundation. He also provides program support and acts as a liaison for the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute, the Center for Ocean Solutions, and the Aldo Leopold Leadership Program. Prior to joining the Packard Foundation, he taught at Williams College and is currently the Rosenburg Professor of Environmental Studies, emeritus. He also directed the Center for Environmental Studies at Williams and taught at the University of Washington in Seattle. He is the author of Compass and Gyroscope (1993) and Humans in the Landscape (W.W. Norton, 2012) and was a member of the Board on Sustainable Development that oversaw the National Research Council report entitled Our Common Journey (National Academies Press, 1999). He is a national associate of the National Research Council of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS). He was a White House Fellow and represented the State of Washington as a member of the Northwest Power Planning Council. He was appointed in 2009 to the Science Advisory Board of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and served until 2011, when he became vice chair of the Committee to Advise the U.S. Global Change Research Program at the National Research Council. He also served as vice chair of the NAS panel that wrote Informing Decisions in a Changing Climate (2009). He holds a Ph.D. in physics from Princeton University and an A.B. magna cum laude in physics from Columbia University.

Bruce V. Lewenstein is professor of science communication in the Departments of Communication and of Science and Technology Studies at Cornell University, Ithaca, New York. He works primarily on the history of public communication of science, with excursions into other areas of science communication (such as informal science education). He has also been active in international activities that contribute to education and research on public communication of science and technology, especially in the developing world. In general, he tries to document the ways that public communication of science is fundamental to the process of producing reliable knowledge about the natural world. From 1998 to 2003, Lewenstein was editor of the journal Public Understanding of Science. He was cochair of a National Research Council study, Learning Science in Informal Environments: People, Places, and Pursuits (2009). In 2012, he was the first Presidential Fellow at the Chemical Heritage Foundation (Philadelphia), where he worked on issues of public engagement. He was elected a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) in 2002 and, in 2011, served as chair of the AAAS’s section on societal implications of science and engineering.

Suggested Citation:"Appendix C--Biographies of Workshop Speakers, Panelists, Moderators, and Planning Committee Members." National Research Council. 2014. Sustainable Infrastructures for Life Science Communication: Workshop Summary. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/18728.
×

David Malakoff is a deputy news editor at Science magazine. He specializes in coverage of science policy, energy, and the environment. A native of Washington, D.C., he has spent more than 25 years reporting on how scientists influence government policy and how government policy shapes science. In addition to reporting for Science, David has worked as an editor and correspondent on NPR’s Science Desk, for Conservation magazine, and as a freelance journalist for numerous outlets.

Craig McClain is the assistant director of Science for the National Evolutionary Synthesis Center, which was created to facilitate synthetic research to address fundamental questions in evolutionary science. His research focuses mainly on marine systems and particularly the biology of body size, biodiversity, and energy flow, focusing often on the deep sea. He has conducted oceanographic research for 15 years and has published more than 40 papers in the area. He has participated in dozens of expeditions taking him to the Antarctic and the most remote regions of the Pacific and Atlantic. He is also the founder and chief editor of Deep-Sea News, a popular ocean-themed blog, rated the number one ocean blog on the Web and winner of numerous awards. His popular writing has been featured in Cosmos, Science Illustrated, American Scientist, Wired, Mental Floss, and Open Lab: The Best Science Writing on the Web.

Nalini Nadkarni is a forest ecologist and a science communicator. She was a faculty member at The Evergreen State College for 20 years and, in 2011, joined the University of Utah as a professor of biology and director of the Center for Science and Mathematics Education. Her research concerns the ecological roles of canopy-dwelling biota in forest ecosystems. She has published more than 100 scientific articles and four scholarly books. Nalini is also deeply interested in public engagement of science, has given two TED talks, and has been highlighted in magazines such as National Geographic, Glamour, and Playboy magazine. She created the “Research Ambassador Program” to train scientists to engage the public in nontraditional venues, such as preschools, churches, and sports stadiums. In 2005, she cofounded the Sustainability in Prisons Project, which brings science and nature to incarcerated men and women. The prisons project is now being expanded to a national level. She has received many awards for her research and public engagement work, including a Guggenheim Fellowship, an Aldo Leopold Leadership Fellowship, the 2011 National Science Foundation Public Service Award, and the 2012 American Association for the Advancement of Science Early Career Award for Public Engagement in Science. She received her B.S. degree from Brown University and her Ph.D. from University of Washington.

Philip Needleman joined the faculty at Washington University Medical School (St. Louis) in 1967 and served as chairman of the Department of Pharmacology from 1976 to 1989. During that time, he was selected Basic Science Teacher of the Year five times. Needleman left academia in 1989 to become chief scientist officer of Monsanto and later became president of Research and Development of the Searle Pharmaceutical Company and senior executive vice president and chief scientist of the Pharmacia Corporation after the Monsanto-Searle merger. In 2004, he returned to academia as associate dean for special projects at Washington University Medical School. He was elected to the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) in 1987 and the Institute of Medicine in 1993. At the NAS, he chaired the Pharmacology-Physiology section (2001–2004) and currently serves on the advisory board for the NAS Division on Earth and Life Studies. In 2009, he became interim president of the Donald Danforth Plant Sciences Center and after that, in 2011, he served as interim president and chief executive officer of the St. Louis Science Center. He is research advisor

Suggested Citation:"Appendix C--Biographies of Workshop Speakers, Panelists, Moderators, and Planning Committee Members." National Research Council. 2014. Sustainable Infrastructures for Life Science Communication: Workshop Summary. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/18728.
×

to the President at Ben-Gurion University (Israel) and helped create the National Institute for Biotechnology in the Negev.

Matthew Nisbet is associate professor of communication and codirector of the Center for Social Media at American University, Washington, D.C. As a social scientist, he studies the role of media and communication in policy making and public affairs, focusing on debates over science, the environment, and public health. Since 2002, he has authored more than 70 peer-reviewed studies, scholarly book chapters, and monographs. Among his awards and recognition, he has been a Visiting Shorenstein Center Fellow on Press, Politics, and Public Policy at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government, a health policy investigator at the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, a Google Science Communication Fellow, and an Osher Fellow at The Exploratorium science center. In 2011, the editors at the journal Nature recommended his research as “essential reading for anyone with a passing interest in the climate change debate,” and the New Republic highlighted his work as a “fascinating dissection of the shortcomings of climate activism.” A frequently invited speaker, he has given lectures on more than three dozen college campuses worldwide and at many other scholarly and professional venues. His consulting experience includes research and analysis on behalf of the National Academy of Sciences, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and other public- and private-sector clients.

Stephen Palacios is an executive vice president with the innovation consulting firm, Added Value Cheskin. He leads the company’s Hispanic practice, directing strategy on client engagements relating to new market assessment, product innovation, and communication strategy. Clients include Pepsi, Wells Fargo, Time Warner Inc., and AstraZeneca. He is a leading expert in the U.S. Hispanic market, having helped guide strategy for organizations such as Blue Cross Blue Shield (various regions) Meredith Corporation, and the National Council of La Raza. Palacios holds a B.A. from Saint Joseph’s University (Pennsylvania), where he was valedictorian, and an M.A. from American University, where he was awarded a fellowship. He is a frequent speaker at industry conferences; has been featured in publications including the Los Angeles Times, Harvard Business Review, and AdAge; and has been featured on ABC’s Nightline and PBS’s Latino market documentary, Brown is the New Green.

William Provine is the director of Science and Technology External Affairs at DuPont. He is responsible for defining strategic direction for DuPont’s science and technology programs with external collaborators and stakeholders, including federal governments, other companies, universities, and the public sector at large. External to DuPont, William currently serves on advisory boards for a number of science centers at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, University of California, Berkeley/Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory, University of Delaware, University of Wisconsin, and Michigan State University. He is also a founding member of the World Council on Industrial Biotechnology and the International Council on Nanotechnology. William was nominated, appointed, and currently serves on the Department of Commerce/Bureau of Industry and Security’s Emerging Technology and Research Technical Advisory Committee, the U.S. Department of Energy/U.S. Department of Agriculture Biomass R&D Technical Advisory Committee, and a temporary scientific working group of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons on the convergence of biology and chemistry. He joined DuPont in 1992 and has served in a variety of research, marketing, business development, and operations leadership roles, including oversight for commercialization efforts. He also has managed key strategic collaborations around the world for DuPont with companies, universities, government

Suggested Citation:"Appendix C--Biographies of Workshop Speakers, Panelists, Moderators, and Planning Committee Members." National Research Council. 2014. Sustainable Infrastructures for Life Science Communication: Workshop Summary. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/18728.
×

agencies, and nonprofit organizations. He received a Ph.D. in chemical engineering from the University of Delaware.

Sonny Ramaswamy was appointed to serve as director of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA’s) National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) on May 7, 2012. As part of USDA’s Research, Education, and Extension mission, he oversees NIFA award funds for a wide range of extramural research, education, and extension projects that address the needs of farmers, ranchers, and agricultural producers. Prior to joining NIFA, he served as dean of Oregon State University’s (OSU’s) College of Agricultural Sciences and director of the Oregon Agricultural Experiment Station. He provided overall leadership for the college’s academic programs at the Corvallis campus and OSU programs at Eastern Oregon University in La Grande, for-credit extended education, informal education through the Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources Extension Program, and research at OSU’s main campus and 11 branch experiment stations throughout the state. He received a Bachelor of Science in agriculture and a Master of Science in entomology from the University of Agricultural Sciences, Bangalore, India, and his doctorate in entomology from Rutgers University. He is also a graduate of the University of Nebraska’s New Academic Chair's Program and Harvard University's Management Development Program.

Kenneth S. Ramos is distinguished university scholar and professor of biochemistry and molecular biology and director of the Center for Environmental Genomics and Integrative Biology. He is a leading expert in the study of gene–environment interactions and personalized medicine. His research program integrates diverse approaches ranging from molecular genetics to population-based public health studies. Ongoing preclinical work in his laboratory focuses on the study of repetitive genetic elements in the mammalian genome and their role in genome plasticity and disease. Current clinical studies focus on the characterization of diagnostic and prognostic biomarkers for chronic disease and cancer to advance personalized and preventive medicine. In addition to his research, Ken has longstanding interests in community outreach and engagement in the environmental health sciences. He completed a B.S. in pharmaceutical sciences and chemistry (magna cum laude) at the University of Puerto Rico, a Ph.D. in Biochemical Pharmacology at the University of Texas at Austin, and an M.D. degree with postgraduate training in internal medicine at the University of Louisville Health Sciences Center and Affiliated Hospitals.

Andrew A. Rosenberg is director of the Center for Science and Democracy at the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS). He has more than 25 years of experience in government service and academic and nonprofit leadership. He is the author of scores of peer-reviewed studies and reports on fisheries and ocean management and has published on the intersection between science and policy making. He came to UCS from Conservation International, where he served for 2 years as the organization’s senior vice president for science and knowledge. Previously, he served as the northeast regional administrator of the National Marine Fisheries Service at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, where he negotiated recovery plans for New England and mid-Atlantic fishery resources, endangered species protections, and habitat conservation programs. He later became deputy director of the service. He is also the convening lead author of the oceans chapter of the U.S. Climate Impacts Advisory Panel. He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences’ Ocean Studies Board and the U.S. Commission on Ocean Policy. He is a professor of natural resources and the environment at the University of New Hampshire, where he previously served as dean of the College of Life Sciences and Agriculture.

Suggested Citation:"Appendix C--Biographies of Workshop Speakers, Panelists, Moderators, and Planning Committee Members." National Research Council. 2014. Sustainable Infrastructures for Life Science Communication: Workshop Summary. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/18728.
×

Daniel Sarewitz is codirector of the Consortium for Science, Policy and Outcomes and associate director of the Center for Nanotechnology in Society at Arizona State University. He focuses on revealing the connections between science policy decisions, scientific research, and social outcomes. How does the distribution of the social benefits of science relate to the way that we organize scientific inquiry? What accounts for the highly uneven advance of know-how related to solving human problems? How do the interactions between scientific uncertainty and human values influence decision making? How does technological innovation influence politics? And how can improved insight into such questions contribute to improved real-world practice? From 1989 to 1993, he worked on research and development policy issues as a staff member in the U.S. House of Representatives and principal speech writer for Committee Chairman George E. Brown, Jr. He received a doctorate in geological sciences from Cornell University in 1986. His published work includes Frontiers of Illusion: Science, Technology, and the Politics of Progress (Temple University Press, 1996), Living with the Genie: Essays on Technology and the Quest for Human Mastery (Island Press, 2003) and Prediction: Science, Decision-Making, and the Future of Nature (Island Press, 2000).

Dennis Schatz is the senior vice president for Strategic Programs at the Pacific Science Center in Seattle, Washington. He is currently on temporary assignment as program director and acting lifelong learning cluster coordinator in the Division of Research in Learning in Formal and Informal Settings of the National Science Foundation (NSF). At NSF, he works to identify opportunities for large NSF research investments in informal science education (ISE), including raising awareness about ISE in the broad scientific community, improving the quality of evaluation for education and outreach activities, and facilitating collaborations between science organizations and informal science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. At the Pacific Science Center, he codirected the Washington State Leadership and Assistance for Science Education Reform, a program to implement a quality K-12 science program in all 295 school districts in Washington State. He also was principal investigator for Portal to the Public, an initiative to develop programs that engage scientists in working with public audiences. He is the author of 21 science books for children that have sold almost 2 million copies worldwide and have been translated into 23 languages. Prior to his career in science education, Schatz was a research solar astronomer at the Lawrence Hall of Science at the University of California, Berkeley. He has received numerous honors and awards, including the 2009 Faraday Science Communicator Award, and the 2005 National Science Teachers Association lifetime achievement award for Distinguished Service to Science Education.

Jack Schultz is professor and director of the Christopher S. Bond Life Sciences Center (LSC) at the University of Missouri. Bond LSC has been supported continuously by the National Science Foundation for 35 years to investigate the bases of interactions between plants and insect herbivores. Frustrated by the inability of community, physiological, and evolutionary ecology to construct effective generalizations and develop predictive theory, his research has moved in an increasingly mechanistic direction. His lab’s motivation is to understand various ecological and evolutionary phenomena and why the world looks and acts the way it does, but they focus on underlying mechanisms to explain patterns they see in the environment. As director of Bond LSC, he integrates the research of 40 investigators from 12 academic departments and manages a substantive outreach program. Bond LSC’s Life Science and Society Program promotes and spotlights the intersections between science and society that matter to all of the “publics.” He also leads a Howard Hughes Medical Institute training grant that teaches students, faculty, and journalists to communicate science to broad

Suggested Citation:"Appendix C--Biographies of Workshop Speakers, Panelists, Moderators, and Planning Committee Members." National Research Council. 2014. Sustainable Infrastructures for Life Science Communication: Workshop Summary. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/18728.
×

audiences. This effort has grown into emerging science communication programs on the University of Missouri’s campus.

Erika Shugart is director of communications and strategic marketing at the American Society for Microbiology. Between 2003 and 2013, she oversaw the development of new digital media exhibitions, online experiences, and programs as deputy director of the Marian Koshland Science Museum of the National Academy of Sciences. Prior to joining the museum staff, she directed the National Academy of Sciences’ Office on Public Understanding of Science, managing several projects, including the article series Beyond Discovery. She began her career at the National Research Council as an intern with the Board on Biology. She also worked at the Office of Policy Analysis at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health. She received her Ph.D. in biology from the University of Virginia. She has been recognized as a leader in the field of informal science education. In 2010, she was elected as a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science for distinguished contributions and leadership in public understanding and engagement in science. She was a Noyce Leadership Fellow from 2012 to 2013.

Alan Slobodin is chief investigative counsel for oversight and investigations at the U.S. House of Representatives Energy and Commerce Committee, and has continuously worked on oversight and investigations since joining the committee staff in 1995. As an oversight counsel, he has worked investigations involving public health, with a particular focus on the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the National Institutes of Health.

Brooke Smith is the executive director of COMPASS, a nonprofit helping scientists find their voice and their science find its audience. Originally founded in 1999 to support ocean scientists, COMPASS now supports a broader scope of scientists working at the interface of the human and natural environment. Her career focuses on being a practitioner of science communications, a sustainability leader, and a nonprofit executive. Her experiences are in ocean and environmental science, state and federal environmental policy, environmental consulting, connecting science to policy and management, and nonprofit management. Brooke leads COMPASS in vision, strategy, fundraising, and administration. She received her M.S. from Oregon State University’s College of Oceanic and Atmospheric Sciences and her bachelor’s degree from Duke University. She holds a courtesy faculty appointment at Oregon State University, serves on the National Board of Directors of the Surfrider Foundation and the Board of Directors of Portland’s locally based Forest Park Conservancy, and was recently a Donella Meadows Leadership Fellow.

Amanda Stanley is the Conservation Science Program Officer at the Wilburforce Foundation. She directs the Foundation’s efforts to increase the science capacity of regional programs and grantees while keeping an eye to important opportunities that cut across all Wilburforce funding regions. Amanda received her Ph.D. in biology from the University of Washington and her B.S. in wildlife biology from the University of Montana. Amanda is also chair of the Board of Directors of the Emily Hall Tremaine Foundation in New Haven, Connecticut.

Suggested Citation:"Appendix C--Biographies of Workshop Speakers, Panelists, Moderators, and Planning Committee Members." National Research Council. 2014. Sustainable Infrastructures for Life Science Communication: Workshop Summary. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/18728.
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Suggested Citation:"Appendix C--Biographies of Workshop Speakers, Panelists, Moderators, and Planning Committee Members." National Research Council. 2014. Sustainable Infrastructures for Life Science Communication: Workshop Summary. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/18728.
×
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Suggested Citation:"Appendix C--Biographies of Workshop Speakers, Panelists, Moderators, and Planning Committee Members." National Research Council. 2014. Sustainable Infrastructures for Life Science Communication: Workshop Summary. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/18728.
×
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Suggested Citation:"Appendix C--Biographies of Workshop Speakers, Panelists, Moderators, and Planning Committee Members." National Research Council. 2014. Sustainable Infrastructures for Life Science Communication: Workshop Summary. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/18728.
×
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Suggested Citation:"Appendix C--Biographies of Workshop Speakers, Panelists, Moderators, and Planning Committee Members." National Research Council. 2014. Sustainable Infrastructures for Life Science Communication: Workshop Summary. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/18728.
×
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Suggested Citation:"Appendix C--Biographies of Workshop Speakers, Panelists, Moderators, and Planning Committee Members." National Research Council. 2014. Sustainable Infrastructures for Life Science Communication: Workshop Summary. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/18728.
×
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Suggested Citation:"Appendix C--Biographies of Workshop Speakers, Panelists, Moderators, and Planning Committee Members." National Research Council. 2014. Sustainable Infrastructures for Life Science Communication: Workshop Summary. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/18728.
×
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Suggested Citation:"Appendix C--Biographies of Workshop Speakers, Panelists, Moderators, and Planning Committee Members." National Research Council. 2014. Sustainable Infrastructures for Life Science Communication: Workshop Summary. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/18728.
×
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Suggested Citation:"Appendix C--Biographies of Workshop Speakers, Panelists, Moderators, and Planning Committee Members." National Research Council. 2014. Sustainable Infrastructures for Life Science Communication: Workshop Summary. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/18728.
×
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Suggested Citation:"Appendix C--Biographies of Workshop Speakers, Panelists, Moderators, and Planning Committee Members." National Research Council. 2014. Sustainable Infrastructures for Life Science Communication: Workshop Summary. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/18728.
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Suggested Citation:"Appendix C--Biographies of Workshop Speakers, Panelists, Moderators, and Planning Committee Members." National Research Council. 2014. Sustainable Infrastructures for Life Science Communication: Workshop Summary. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/18728.
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Sustainable Infrastructures for Life Science Communication: Workshop Summary Get This Book
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Advances in the life sciences - from the human genome to biotechnology to personalized medicine and sustainable communities - have profound implications for the well-being of society and the natural world. Improved public understanding of such scientific advances has the potential to benefit both individuals and society through enhanced quality of life and environmental protection, improved K-12 and undergraduate science education, greater understanding of human connections to the natural world, and more sustainable policies and regulations. Yet few systems of support exist to help life scientist communicators share their research with a broad range of public audiences, or engage the public in discussions about their work.

Sustainable Infrastructures for Life Science Communication is the summary of a two-part workshop convened in December 2013 and January 2014 by the National Research Council Roundtable on Public Interfaces of the Life Sciences to identify infrastructure-related barriers that inhibit or prohibit life scientists from communicating about their work and characteristics of infrastructure that facilitate or encourage scientists to engage with public audiences. The workshop featured both formal presentations and panel discussions among participants from academia, industry, journalism, the federal government, and nonprofit organizations. The presentations highlighted the motivations of and challenges to life scientist communicators, theoretical approaches to science communication, examples of different types of infrastructure to support science communication, and the need for building more sustainable science communication infrastructures. This report considers communication infrastructure across a range of life science institutions, including federal agencies, academia, industry, and nonprofit organizations and explores novel approaches to facilitate effective science communication.

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