Biographical Sketches of Workshop Speakers and Session Moderators
Norman R. Augustine (National Academy of Sciences [NAS], National Academy of Engineering [NAE]), chair, is the retired chairman and chief executive officer of the Lockheed Martin Corporation and a former under secretary of the army. Augustine served as a member of the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology and the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) Advisory Council. He chaired the NAS committee that authored the report Rising Above the Gathering Storm: Energizing and Employing America for a Brighter Economic Future. Among Augustine’s many honors are the National Medal of Technology and the Department of Defense’s (DOD) highest civilian award, the Distinguished Service Medal, given to him five times. He was awarded the 2005 American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) Philip Hauge Abelson Prize and the 2006 Public Welfare Medal from NAS.
Augustine also served as chairman and principal officer of the American Red Cross for 9 years and as chairman of the NAE, the Association of the United States Army, the Aerospace Industries Association, and the Defense Science Board. He is a former president of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics and the Boy Scouts of America. He is a current or former member of the Board of Directors of ConocoPhillips, Black and Decker, Procter & Gamble, and Lockheed Martin, and is a member of the board of trustees of Colonial Williamsburg, a trustee emeritus of Johns Hopkins, and a former member of the board of trustees of Princeton University and Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). He holds 18 honorary degrees. Augustine graduated magna cum laude from Princeton University, where he earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in engineering. He is the author of Augustine’s Travels, The Defense Revolution, and Augustine’s Laws.
N. Balakrishnan is currently the associate director of the Indian Institute of Science and a professor at the Department of Aerospace Engineering and at the Supercomputer Education and Research Centre. His areas of research where he has several international publications include numerical electromagnetics, high performance computing and networks, polarimetric radars, aerospace electronic
systems, information security, complex social networks, and digital library. He is a fellow of the World Academy of Sciences, Indian National Science Academy, Indian Academy of Sciences, Indian National Academy of Engineering (INAE), National Academy of Sciences, and Institution of Electronics and Telecommunication Engineers. He has received many awards, including the Padmashree by the President of India, Professor S.N. Mitra Memorial Award 2013 from INAE, and J.C. Bose National Fellowship 2007. He has served as a member of the National Security Advisory Board for many years. He was on the Board of Governors of IIT Chennai and Delhi, Bharat Electronics Limited and the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India. Currently he is on the Data Security Council of India, Central Bank of India, Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited, CDOT-Alcatel Research Center at Chennai, Center for Development of Advanced Computing, Indian Statistical Institute of Kolkata, IIT Kharagpur, and the Joint Advisory Board of Carnegie Mellow University at Qatar. He is an honorary professor at the Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research.
J. K. Bansal is the Honorable Member of the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), government of India, having the status of Union Minister of State. Previously, he served in the Army Medical Corps and the Defense Research & Development Organization (DRDO). He is a medical doctor with a specialization in thyroid diseases. He established the Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear (CBRN) mitigation division and the Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear Training Center at the Defense Research and Development Establishment (DRDE) at Gwaloir. He is the pioneer of the Radiation Disaster Medical Management Center, Institute of Nuclear Medicine and Allied Sciences, Delhi. He underwent extensive professional training in CBRN mitigation and environmental help in Australia, Canada, Holland, Japan, Russia, and Sweden. He participated in a task force meeting of Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), The Hague, Holland for evaluation of protection and treatment of chemical injuries in 1995. He attended the International Basic Course on Chemical Weapon Assistance and Protection at Rescue Services College, Revinge, Sweden, in 2002, and at Training Centre Krusevac, Serbia, in 2009.
He has wide experience with CBRN protection, detection, decontamination and medical management. He visited the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research in Dubna, Moscow, where he gained practical experience and became acquainted with and updated about nuclear disaster management. He published large numbers of papers on chemical terrorism disaster management. He presented the “Indian Perspective on Bioterrorism Prevention and Response” during the Interpol Workshop on Bioterrorism Prevention in 2007. He delivered the keynote address at the inaugural session of the OPCW Conference on International Cooperation and Chemical Safety and Security held at The Hague, Netherlands, in 2011. He made very significant contributions in a high-level roundtable meeting of international experts on “Enhancing Global Security: Multi-Sectoral Ap-
proaches to Mitigating Infectious Disease Threats,” held on June 11, 2013, hosted by Chatham House London. He made major contributions in prevention and management of the swine flu pandemic in 2009. He was deeply involved in the management of the chlorine gas leak at Mumbai port during 2010. He successfully managed the radiation emergency, including medical treatment, during the Mayapuri radiation incident in 2010. He contributed significantly during natural disaster such as tsunamis, the Gujarat earthquake and the Orissa super cyclone. For his outstanding contribution and distinguished services, the president of India decorated him with the Vishist Sewa Medal. He was awarded the Chiktisa Ratan by Delhi Medical Association for his outstanding contribution in training medical doctors for CBRN disaster casualties management.
Stephen Philip Cohen has been senior fellow in foreign policy studies at the Brookings Institution since 1998. In 2004, he was named as one of the 500 most influential people in the field of foreign policy by the World Affairs Councils of America. Cohen was a faculty member at the University of Illinois from 1965 to 1998. From 1992 to 1993 he was scholar-in-residence at the Ford Foundation, New Delhi, and from 1985 to 1987, a member of the Policy Planning Staff of the U.S. Department of State, where he dealt with South Asia. He has taught at Andhra University (India) and Keio University (Tokyo), and Georgetown University, and now teaches in the South Asian program of Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies. Cohen has served on numerous study groups examining Asia sponsored by the Asia Society, the Council on Foreign Relations, the Asia Foundation, and the National Bureau of Asian Research. He is a trustee of the Public Education Center. Cohen was the co-founder and chair of the workshop on Security, Technology and Arms Control for younger South Asian and Chinese strategists, held for the past 10 years in Pakistan, India, Sri Lanka and China, and was a founding member of the Research Committee of the South Asian strategic organization the Regional Centre for Security Studies, Colombo. Cohen has written, co-authored, or edited 10 books. Cohen received B.A. and M.A. degrees in political science from the University of Chicago, and a Ph.D. in political science from the University of Wisconsin. He has conducted research in Britain, China, Japan, India, Pakistan, and the former Soviet Union. He received grants from several major foundations and serves as a consultant to numerous government agencies.
David R. Franz served in the U.S. Army Medical Research and Materiel Command for 23 of 27 years on active duty and retired as colonel. He served as commander of the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases and as deputy commander of the Medical Research and Materiel Command. Prior to joining the Command, he served as group veterinarian for the 10th Special Forces Group (Airborne). Franz was the chief inspector on three United Nations Special Commission biological warfare inspection missions to Iraq and served as technical advisor on long-term monitoring. He also served as a member of the first two U.S.-U.K. teams that visited Russia in support of the Trilat-
eral Joint Statement on Biological Weapons and as a member of the Trilateral Experts’ Committee for biological weapons negotiations. Franz was technical editor for the Textbook of Military Medicine on Medical Aspects of Chemical and Biological Warfare, released in 1997. Current standing committee appointments include NAS Committee on International Security and Arms Control (CISAC), the National Research Council (NRC) Board on Life Sciences, the Department of Health and Human Services National Science Advisory Board for Biosecurity, and the Senior Technical Advisory Committee of the National Biodefense Countermeasures Analysis Center. He serves as a senior mentor to the Program for Emerging Leaders at the National Defense University. He also serves on the Board of Integrated Nano-Technologies, LLC. Franz holds an adjunct appointment as professor for the Department of Diagnostic Medicine and Pathobiology at the College of Veterinary Medicine, Kansas State University. The current focus of his activities relates to the role of international engagement in the life sciences as a component of global biosecurity policy. Franz holds a D.V.M. from Kansas State University and a Ph.D. in physiology from Baylor College of Medicine.
Byron Gardner leads the critical infrastructure protection program at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL). This program concentrates on the protection of globally strategic energy facilities. Gardner’s areas of knowledge and expertise include: vulnerability assessments of energy and nuclear facilities; high-security system design; familiarity with security system technologies, regulations, and operations; management of major security system implementation projects; insider threat analysis and mitigation; security system performance testing; and security systems training and regulatory development. Gardner has worked on high-security systems for more than 39 years. His educational training is in systems management with a bachelor’s degree from the University of New Mexico and graduate studies in law enforcement and counterterrorism, as well as specialized training in multiple safeguards and security disciplines. Gardner’s project teams have received numerous commendations from domestic and foreign customers for work conducted on some of the world’s most important nuclear and critical facilities. Gardner managed more than $400 million in upgrades to Russian nuclear weapon bases. Gardner has worked in 24 countries and has worked on security projects for the DOD, Department of Energy (DOE), DHS, and National Regulatory Commission in 28 U.S. states.
S. Gopal worked with the government of India for more than three and a half decades, during which he had wide experience in the analysis of national and international security and strategic affairs. After retirement, he was instrumental, along with other colleagues, in establishing the Institute of Contemporary Studies in Bangalore. The institute started a quarterly journal called Contemporary Analyst, in which Gopal has been a regular contributor. One of his more important papers was on the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT), entitled, “India and the CTBT.” He is a member of the Asia Centre in Bangalore, where
he presented a paper assessing Pakistan’s security scenarios. In a seminar on Naxalism organized by the Observer Research Foundation in Chennai, he presented a paper entitled, “The Naxalite Movement: Impact of External Networking.” In a seminar in Sri Lanka, recently organized by the Indian Centre for South Asian Studies and the Centre for Asia Studies, Gopal presented a paper entitled, “The Role of the Janatka Vimukti Peramuna in Sri Lankan Politics,” with particular reference to the ethnic question. Gopal also has wide experience in technical and imagery intelligence analysis.
Ravi B. Grover graduated in mechanical engineering from Delhi College of Engineering in 1970 and joined the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) Training School to study nuclear engineering. He worked as a nuclear engineer for 25 years and specialized in thermal hydraulics. Simultaneously, he obtained a Ph.D. from the Indian Institute of Science (IIS), Bangalore in 1982. Presently, he is working as a principal advisor at the Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) and is a member of the Atomic Energy Commission. He is concurrently working as director of the Homi Bhabha National Institute, and is responsible for running the university. As principal adviser, he deals with issues related to the nuclear power policy of India, including the evolution of the nuclear legislative framework, energy studies, and international collaborations. Grover was a member of the team of officials involved in negotiations that led to the opening up of international civil nuclear cooperation. He is also chair of the Indian delegation to the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor Council. He served as a member of the expert group, constituted by the director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), to examine multilateral approaches to the nuclear fuel cycle. Grover is an INAE fellow and president of the Indian Society of Heat and Mass Transfer. His recent awards include the INS Award in 2006 for Nuclear Reactor Technology, including nuclear safety; the Dhirubhai Ambani Oration Award in 2008; the Distinguished Alumnus Award in 2009 from the Delhi College of Engineering Alumni Association; and the Distinguished Alumnus Award in 2011 from the IIS and the IIS Alumni Association.
John Holmes is former deputy executive director of operations at the Port of Los Angeles, where he oversaw the Port Police, Port Pilots, Emergency Preparedness, Wharfinger, and Homeland Security divisions at the number one container port in the nation. Holmes held the ultimate responsibility for Port-related security and public safety issues. His divisions worked cooperatively with associated government and law enforcement agencies to uphold maritime laws, enforce safety and security regulations, and continually test and enhance emergency response and preparedness procedures to ensure the safety of the Port workforce and residents in the surrounding harbor communities. Holmes has 30 years of international management experience in a variety of positions that include chief operating officer, Fortune 500 executive, senior level Coast Guard officer, and maritime security specialist. He most recently served as a principal and chief operating officer of the Marsec Group, a full-service security consult-
ing firm specializing in supply-chain security, technology and operations. Prior to forming the Marsec Group, Holmes was vice president and director of business development for Science Applications International Corporation, where he assisted government and commercial customers with the development of technological solutions to homeland security challenges, with an emphasis on port, border, and military solutions.
Holmes retired from the U.S. Coast Guard in 2003 following 27 years of distinguished service in a variety of posts that included commanding officer, officer in charge of marine inspection and captain of the port for the Los Angeles Long Beach port complex. As captain of the port, Holmes was at the helm on September 11, 2001, and has been credited with swift and decisive actions that ultimately led to the creation of a number of national security initiatives, including the Maritime Transportation Security Act, Area Maritime Security Committee, and National Sea Marshal Program. Earlier in his Coast Guard career, he served as deputy chief of the Coast Guard Office of Congressional Affairs in Washington, D.C. and as delegate and committee chairman at the International Maritime Organization in London. Holmes holds bachelor’s degrees in English and education from Boston College, and a master’s degree in business administration from Washington University’s John M. Olin School of Business.
Nancy B. Jackson is manager of the International Chemical Threat Reduction Department in the Global Security Center at Sandia National Laboratories (SNL), which assists the U.S. Department of State and other federal agencies in solving problems related to international chemical security. With the Department of State, Jackson has developed the Chemical Security Engagement Program (CSP), an international program to raise awareness of chemical safety and security among chemical professionals and to enable the practice of safety and security in the research, teaching, and commerce of chemicals. CSP has worked with universities and small to medium chemical companies in Southeast Asia, South Asia, the Middle East, and North Africa. Her group is responsible for encouraging the safe and secure practice of chemicals in an effort to prevent their misuse as weapons, poisons, explosives, or environmental pollutants. This includes providing training in laboratory safety, process safety, and physical security.
Previously, Jackson was deputy director of SNL’s International Security Program, where she assisted the director in fulfilling its mission to create technology-based solutions through international cooperation to reduce the threat of weapons of mass destruction (WMD) proliferation and terrorism. Prior to her positions in global security, Jackson was a principal investigator in heterogeneous catalysis with an emphasis on energy applications. Later work involved chemical imaging with a wide variety of applications from biological systems to homeland defense problems. Jackson is a national affiliate of NAS where she has served on several boards and chaired studies. She is a fellow of AAAS and
the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry and was recipient of the 2005 American Indian Science and Engineering Society Professional of the Year Award. In 2009, she was elected to the presidential succession of the American Chemical Society. She served as president-elect for 2010, president for 2011, and immediate past president for 2012. She is a research associate professor at the Chemical and Nuclear Engineering Department of the University of New Mexico. Jackson has a B.S. degree in chemistry from George Washington University from which she won a Distinguished Alumni Achievement Award in 2005 and has a Ph.D. in chemical engineering from the University of Texas at Austin.
Raymond Jeanloz (NAS) is professor of earth and planetary science and of astronomy at the University of California at Berkeley. He has done pioneering work in mineral physics, measurement of materials properties, and simulation of deep-Earth processes using diamond-anvil and shock-wave experiments, elucidation of the core-mantle boundary as a chemically reactive zone, and study of the role of water in mantle processes and deep earthquake generation. His research and teaching have been recognized through a MacArthur Award, the American Geophysical Union’s Macelwane Award, and fellowship in the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and AAAS. He has previously served as chair of the NRC’s Board on Earth Sciences and Resources. He currently serves as the chair of the NAS CISAC.
Vinay Kajla is a joint advisor at NDMA. He holds a B.Sc. in physics from Delhi University and an M. Com. in business administration from Rajasthan University. Kajla joined Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) in 1994 and has gained wide-ranging experience throughout his career. He has served at Narora Atomic Power Station, HFCL Barauni, EDP Cell of CISF HQ, National Industrial Security Academy Hyderabad, Uri and Dulhasti Hydel Power Stations in Jammu and Kashmir, and Mumbai Port Trust. He has participated in numerous disaster management courses in India and abroad. He also participated as the joint advisor for operations during the recent Uttrakhand flashfloods incident, particularly in Kedarnath and Badrinath. He participated in managing the neutralization of chlorine and other hazardous cylinders at Mumbai Port Trust in July 2010. Additionally, Kajla helped set up the Joint Operational Command Centre, which helped restore Port Traffic just 5 days after the accident of MSC Chitra with Khalijia in August 2010. He took part in various landslides operations at Assar on Jammu Kishtwar highway in Jammu and Kashmir in February 2009 and also coordinated airport operations during the Bhuj earthquake in January 2001.
B. Karthikeyan is a chemical engineer from Madras University, India, with more than 35 years of experience in the chemical industry in operations, technical services, process safety, occupational health and safety, and environmental management. He has worked in India and abroad. His extensive practical expe-
rience includes the implementation and auditing of the Process Safety Management Program, Environmental Management System as per International Organization for Standardization 14001 and Occupational Health and Safety Advisory Services 18001 systems. He is also an emergency responder for chemical plants and has undergone extensive emergency response and rescue training abroad. He has investigated numerous chemical process plant incidents using Event and Causal Factor Analysis, Man-Technology-Organization Analysis, and barrier analysis techniques and is an expert on human factors and abnormal situation management. He has worked at senior management levels with leading organizations, such as Madras Fertilizers Limited, Murugappa Group (as deputy general manager for process safety management), and internationally with National Methanol Co., Saudi Arabia (a SABIC and Celanese joint venture). He has carried out more than 400 audits of process safety, and environmental management systems in both continuous and batch processes, chaired many Hazard and Operability Analysis studies and conducted more than 350 training sessions on management systems for process safety.
Karl Kim is professor of urban and regional planning at the University of Hawaii, where he also directs the Disaster Management and Humanitarian Assistance Program and serves as the executive director of the National Disaster Preparedness Training Center (NDPTC). NDPTC is part of the national Domestic Preparedness Consortium, funded by DHS, Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). He has been elected the incoming chairman of the Consortium. In addition to holding appointments in the School of Architecture and the Center for Korean Studies, Kim has previously served as the vice councilor for academic affairs (chief academic officer), overseeing tenure and promotion, program review, international programs and strategic planning for the research campus of the University of Hawaii. He has been principal investigator for research and training projects funded by international, federal, and as state and local agencies and organizations. Kim has served as editor of Accident Analysis and Prevention, a leading journal on transportation and industrial safety, and is author of Learning from Disaster: Planning for Resilience (Routledge, forthcoming). He is also editor of a special issue of the Journal of the American Planning Association on disaster recovery. He is author of more than 70 refereed journal articles on risk assessment, urban planning, environmental management, and disaster studies. He has been a Fulbright Scholar to Korea and to the Russian Far East. He was educated at Brown University and MIT.
L. V. Krishnan is currently adjunct faculty at the National Institute for Advanced Studies (NIAS). He joined DAE in 1958 after taking an honors degree in physics from Madras University. Later, he graduated from the Oak Ridge School of Reactor Technology in 1964. He served in the Health Physics Division at Trombay from 1959 until 1973 and then moved to the Kalpakkam Centre to set up the Safety Research Laboratory. At Trombay, he served as plant health physicist for some time. He has participated in safety evaluation of various nu-
clear installations including power reactors and reprocessing plants. At Kalpakkam, he was chairman of the Safety Evaluation Working Group and retired in 1997 as director of the Safety Research and Health Physics Group. His current interests are related to energy and the environment scene in India. He coauthored a book entitled Atomic Energy in India – Fifty Years, with C. V. Sundaram and T. S. Iyengar, and another book entitled Elements of Nuclear Power with Raja Ramanna.
Keshav Kumar is a joint director at the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in Mumbai, India. He joined the Indian police service in 1986, and until recently he served in the state of Gujarat. He completed the Advance Physical Security Training Programme at the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center in Glynco, Georgia. He was selected for the U.S. International Visitor’s Leadership Fellowship Program in June 2009. He has been actively associated with forensic sciences and was instrumental in establishing the Wildlife Crime Cell. In 2013, he was awarded the “Wildlife Service Award” by Sanctuary Asia Magazine in recognition of his contributions to wildlife forensics.
Bijaya Kumar Maurya is an Indian Police Service (IPS) officer since 1990 and he belongs to the Uttar Pradesh Cadre. He graduated with a degree in mechanical engineering with a Gold Medal from the Indian Institute of Technology, B.H.U. Varanasi. He has 23 years of experience in police service with honors. He was district police chief of eight districts in Uttar Pradesh which includes Faizabad, Bareilly, Aligarh, Agra, and Muzzaffar Nagar. He was also deputy inspector general of Azamgarh, Saharanpur, and Meerut Ranges of Uttar Pradesh. On deputation to the government of India, he headed the Intelligence Unit of Paramilitary Organization Sashastra Seema Bal and further, on promotion to the rank of inspector general, he was posted as inspector general (North-West Frontier) of Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) and inspector general (administration and training) at the Directorate General of ITBP. He worked at the United Nations for 1 year (2000-2001) as a member of the civil police in Peace Keeping Mission in Kosovo, Europe. At present, he is executive director of security, Air India Limited, the national air carrier of India. He has been selected as a member of the Security Working Group of the International Air Transport Association to be a part of the Safety, Operations, and Infrastructure team to advise on security issues affecting the airline industry. He is a recipient of the Indian Police Medal for meritorious service for 2007. He was also awarded with the Director General’s Commendation Roll and Insignia in 2010 and 2012.
Srinivas Mukkamala is one of Computational Analysis and Network Enterprise Solutions’ (CAaNES), LLC. owners and its chief technology and operations officer. He is a senior research scientist with the Institute for Complex Additive Systems Analysis, a statutory research division of New Mexico Tech, performing work on information technology, information assurance and protection of critical infrastructures. He is also an adjunct faculty member with the
computer science department of New Mexico Tech. He serves as a government and industry liaison and leads the New Mexico Cyber Strike Team to provide information and network security to CAaNES clients. Mukkamala has more than 80 publications in the areas of information security, digital forensics, data mining, simulation and modeling, and bioinformatics. His current research is focused on intrusion and threat analysis, risk management, vulnerability assessments, digital forensics, malware mitigation and prevention, machine learning, data mining, and information security. Mukkamala received his M.S. and Ph.D. in computer science from New Mexico Tech.
R. Narasimha, former director of NIAS, currently Department of Science and Technology (DST) Year-of-Science Professor at the Jawaharal Nehru Centre for Advance Scientific Research, helped initiate a series of dialogues with NAS CISAC on matters related to international security, with particular reference to nuclear weapons. He is an aerospace scientist, who has been widely honored for his work. He is a foreign associate of both NAS and NAE. He has served as a member of the Space Commission and of the National Advisory Board for several years.
Nancy Jo Nicholas has been a member of Los Alamos National Laboratory’s (LANL) technical staff since 1990, and is the director of LANL’s Nuclear Nonproliferation Program Office. From June 2006 to June 2010 she served as the LANL Nuclear Nonproliferation Division Leader responsible for 250 people who executed a significant nonproliferation mission. Prior to that she headed LANL’s Nonproliferation and Security Technology Program Office where she grew nuclear safeguards programs and helped place LANL personnel in key nonproliferation positions in Washington and Vienna. She previously served as deputy group leader for the LANL’s Advanced Nuclear Technology Group, helping manage an operational Cat I nuclear facility. She has served several assignments at the International Safeguards Division at DOE/National Nuclear Security Administration Headquarters and at the Rocky Flats Environmental Technology Site. Nicholas serves as vice chair of the Board of Directors and founding board member of WINS—the Vienna-based World Institute for Nuclear Security. She was elected and recently served a 2-year term as president of the Institute for Nuclear Materials Management, the premiere international professional society for nonproliferation and safeguards. She has extensive experience in both line and program leadership. Her technical field of expertise is nondestructive assay measurements. Nicholas earned a B.S. in mathematics and physics from Albright College and an M.S. in nuclear physics from George Washington University.
Michael O’Brien is responsible for managing and providing technical support in the protection of nuclear and infrastructure assets deemed critical to U.S. national security. He currently holds the LLNL position of associate program leader for the Global Security Directorate’s International Nuclear Material Protec-
tion Program and has more than 30 years of domestic and international experience in the fields of vulnerability assessment, including insider analysis, and physical protection. He has participated in vulnerability assessments, insider analyses, training, regulatory development, inspections, and security upgrades of sites in the United States and world-wide. He has served on Department of Army, Department of Navy, and DOE working groups for the formulation of physical protection policy guidance and regulations and has provided similar support under the U.S. government bilateral work with the European Commission, IAEA, Russian Federation, and China. O’Brien also supports DOE’s Global Critical Energy Infrastructure Protection Program activities in the international oil and electricity sectors. O’Brien holds a B.A. from the University of Maryland.
Valangiman Subramaniam Ramamurthy is a well-known Indian nuclear scientist with a broad range of contributions from basic research to science administration. Ramamurthy started his career at BARC, Mumbai, in 1963. He has made important research contributions, both experimental and theoretical, in many areas of nuclear fission and heavy ion reaction mechanisms, statistical and thermodynamic properties of nuclei, physics of atomic and molecular clusters, and low energy accelerator applications. From 1995 to 2006, Ramamurthy was fully involved in the promotion of science in India as secretary to the government of India, DST in New Delhi. He was also the chairman of the IAEA Standing Advisory Group on Nuclear Applications for nearly a decade. After retirement from government service, Ramamurthy, in addition to continuing research in nuclear physics in the Inter-University Accelerator Centre in New Delhi, has also been actively involved in human resource development in all aspects of nuclear research and applications. Ramamurthy is also a chair of the Recruitment and Assessment Board for the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research and a member of the National Security Advisory Board. In recognition of his service to the growth of S&T in India, Ramamurthy was awarded one of the top civilian awards of the country, the Padma Bhushan Award, by the government of India in 2005. Ramamurthy is presently the director of NIAS.
Van Romero is currently the vice president for research, a professor of physics and the chief officer of the Research and Economic Development Division of New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology (New Mexico Tech). He obtained his B.S. and M.S. in physics from New Mexico Tech and his Ph.D. in physics from the State University of New York at Albany. Romero is a founding member and served as the chair of the National Domestic Preparedness Consortium (NDPC). The NDPC is a training partner for FEMA. Since its formation as a result of the Oklahoma City bombing, the NDPC has trained more than 2 million first responders from every state and territory. Romero’s and New Mexico Tech’s contribution to the consortium has been to develop and deliver training in the area of explosives and incendiary devises. Prior to becoming the vice president for research, Romero was the director of the Energetic Materials Research
and Testing Center at New Mexico Tech. During this time he participated in and provided oversight for all aspects of energetic materials research. This work included the experimental activity that provided the data to DHS/Transportation Security Agency for the development of the 3-1-1 rule used to allow small amounts of liquid on board airplanes. Before joining the university, Romero worked at four DOE laboratories conducting research in nuclear radiation and spent 15 years in the private sector.
Nehchal Sandhu was appointed deputy national security advisor in the Indian Prime Minister’s Office on March 21, 2013. A career officer of the Indian Police Service, Sandhu put in 39½ years after his initial appointment in July 1973. During that extended tenure, the first 5 years were spent in field-level policing, involving prevention of crime, investigation, detection and prosecution in specific jurisdictions in the eastern Indian province of Bihar. Later, Sandhu served in CBI and during the last 2 years of that tenure, he headed this bureau as its director. During much of this period, his duties related to the countering of terrorism, analysis of disruptive trends, security management and technological upgradation. He served overseas in Canada as counsellor in the High Commission of India in Ottawa in the mid-1990s and is widely traveled. He was chairman of the Asia Pacific World Regional Office of the International Association of Chiefs of Police for 2 years (2011 and 2012). Sandhu is the proud recipient of the Indian Police Medal for Meritorious Service (1998), President’s Police Medal for Distinguished Service (1998), and several commendations. Sandhu graduated with honors in science from St. Stephen’s College, Delhi, and maintains a keen interest in technological developments.
K. Sekhar obtained his B.Tech. (Honors) in chemical engineering from IIT, Kharagpur in 1971 and M. Tech. in chemical engineering from IIT Madras in 1973. He obtained his doctorate degree from Jiwaji University, Gwalior. Sekhar joined Defence Research and Development Laboratory (DRDL) in Hyderabad in October 1973 as a senior scientific officer. He worked on liquid propulsion technology for 16 years. During this tenure, he has set up a large-thrust liquid rocket engine test facility, and tested and evaluated the propulsion stages of PRITHVI and AGNI missiles. As project executive he has set up production facilities at 10 ordnance factories for the production of propellants and explosives required for the IGMDP missile program. In his role as the director of reliability and quality assurance, at DRDL, Hyderabad, he ensured the quality and reliability of all missile systems during the development and limited series production phase. Sekhar took over as director of DRDE, Gwalior, in November 2001. During his tenure of 5½ years as director, he has brought in product orientation leading to the development of several diagnostic kits and nuclear, biological, chemical (NBC) protective equipment. This has culminated in equipping a third of the army with NBC protective devices. During his tenure, DRDE has come into the select group of labs in the world that are designated as official OPCW labs to identify trace quantities of chemical warfare agents in several
matrices. He also held additional charge as director of the Defence Materials and Stores Research and Development Establishment from November 2004 to February 2005. He was a member of the Secretary of Professor P. Rama Rao DRDO Review Committee constituted for the revamping of DRDO.
He has several publications (32), national and international patents (102 and 31, respectively), and distinguished awards. He has been the chairman of international organizations (Confidentiality Commission of the OPCW) and is a fellow and member of several professional societies. He was the chief controller of R&D (implementation) up to October 2009 and then served as chief controller of R&D, Missile Systems and Low Intensity Conflict (MS & LIC), at the corporate headquarters until May 1, 2011. Later, he took over as chief controller of R&D, LIC, and Implementation at DRDO headquarters, New Delhi. He retired from DRDO on May 31, 2012. He has been vice chancellor of Vels University, Chennai, since April 2013.
Rajiv Pratap Sharma has been an Indian police service officer since 1987, graduating with the Karnataka Cadre and was awarded Indian Police Medal for Meritorious Services on the eve of Independence Day in 2007. He is an internationally known scholar in the field of forensic sciences and legal medicine. He was the vice president of the Indo-Pacific Association of Law, Medicine and Forensic Science for two terms. He is a distinguished member in council of the International Association of Legal Medicine. In academics, Sharma has exhibited his talent by acquiring M.B.B.S. (Honors), L.L.B., and diplomate from the American Board of Examiners in Crisis Intervention and fellow from the American College of Forensic Examiners Institute in the field of crisis intervention. In his distinguished career spanning more than 26 years, he has served in various capacities as superintendent of police of many districts, inspector general of police of the Southern Range of Karnataka and presently he is holding the post of additional director general of police of the Bangalore Metropolitan Task Force. He has served in the Union of India on deputation as deputy inspector general of police, Sashastra Seema Bal. He has attended as delegate in various international conferences in different parts of the world and presented many papers on various subjects ranging from police issues to the issues pertaining to forensic sciences, law and jurisprudence. His various papers published in many law journals have been acclaimed as of high quality by legal scholars. The reformatory changes introduced as additional director general of police, Bangalore Metropolitan Task Force in the planning, execution, and detection have been widely appreciated by the residents of Bangalore and also by distinguished and eminent personalities such as Sri Santhosh Hedge, former Lokayukta of Karnataka. He was awarded the Commendation Disc and Commendation Roll of the Director General, Sashastra Seema Bal, in 2006. He has also published several books, including Citizen and Human Rights (1997), Prevention of Crime (1998), Observation of National Disaster Reduction Day, and Integrated Approach to Disaster Management, and edited the Civil Defense Plan for Karnataka State.
A. K. Sinha is a serving paramilitary officer from Sashastra Seema Bal and is presently working as senior research officer with NDMA. His current responsibilities include policy research, program planning, and interagency coordination for CBRN disaster management, including weapons of mass destruction and terrorism. With an M.V.Sc., he specializes in biological disaster management, including bioterrorism and biosecurity. As a core group member, he has been associated with NDMA since its inception, and has contributed to the formulation of the National Guidelines on Biological Disaster Management, Medical Preparedness and Mass Casualty Management, Management of the Dead in the Aftermath of Disaster, NDMA-World Health Organization Action Plan on Pandemic Preparedness Beyond Health, and Plan to Counter the Threats to the Municipal Water Supply and Water Reservoirs. In addition to NDMA, he actively contributes to biorisk management capacity-building programs of DRDO, the Indian Council of Agriculture Research, the National Institute of Disaster Management, and the State Administrative Training Institutes. Sinha has expertise in biosecurity and bioterrorism. As a technical expert from NDMA, he has been associated with the Disarmament and International Security Affairs Division of the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), and was also a member of the Indian delegation to the UN Biological Toxin and Weapons Convention (BTWC) in Geneva in 2008, and the Biodefense Congress in Kuala Lumpur in 2011, the BTWC Review Conference in Geneva in 2011, and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations Regional Forum Workshop on Biorisk Management in Manila in 2012. During his association with MEA and international exchanges, he contributed significantly to strengthening India’s foreign policy obligations on global biorisk management. Currently, Sinha is coordinating NDMA’s Biological Disaster Management Program and capacity-building program on CBRN Prevention, Preparedness and Mitigation for police and security forces.
B. J. Srinath is a senior director (Scientist ‘G’) in the Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In), Department of Information Technology (IT), Ministry of Communications and IT, government of India. He is a specialist in the field of IT security management. He had a brief stint in Bharat Electronics Limited, Bangalore before moving to the government in 1991. He holds a degree in electronic engineering and is currently engaged in conceptualization and development of the National Cyber Security Strategy, and implementation of the National Cyber Security Assurance Framework. These programs are aimed at enabling protection of national critical information infrastructure and ensuring the safety and security of cyberspace in the country. Recently, he was nominated to represent India in the United Nations Group of Government Experts Committee and the Council for Security Cooperation in the Asia Pacific for studying “Developments in the Field of Information and Communication Technology in the context of International Security,” and making suitable recommendations. He is also the national point of contact on behalf of the government of India to progress and coordinate with the world-wide Trusted Computing Initiative, comprising many countries and business leaders in the field of IT. In addition,
he has also represented India in the meetings of the Working Party on Information Security and Privacy of The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development in Europe. He is currently the chairman of a sectional committee of the Bureau of Indian Standards on information security and biometics for development of relevant international standards.
Lt. Gen. V. J. Sundaram (Retd.) is currently serving as the chairman of the board of governors of the National Design and Research Forum, and he is also an Honorary Professor at NIAS. He served in the Indian Army from 1957 to 1968, and also worked with DRDL from 1968 to 1997 in various positions of responsibility including as the chairman of the Indian missile program.
Lalitha Sundaresan is currently visiting professor at NIAS. She has a doctorate from the Indian Statistical Institute, Kolkata, where her work focused on digital processing of multisatellite data. She was a scientist at the Indian Space Research Organization, where she carried out studies to evaluate the usefulness of satellite remote sensing for monitoring natural resources and natural disasters with special reference to India. She worked as a principal scientific officer at DST, where she was involved with the setting up of Natural Resources Data Base centers in the districts of Karnataka. Together with IIT, Bombay, she was also involved in the development of the indigenous Geographical Information Software (GIS). She also coordinated training programs given by DST on the use of the Natural Resources Data Management System and GIS for development planning. Her recent works include the analysis of measurement errors in missile images obtained from open sources and the resulting impact of these errors on missile performance. She has also studied the Chinese university/research institution network and collaboration on superalloys as a critical part of the micro-level case study of Chinese capabilities in turbofan engine technology.
Vedpal Yadav has been working as lecturer in food technology since November 2000. Yadav has 10 published papers and 2 books. He has been working on food defense since 2008. Yadav participated in a United States Department of Agriculture (USDA)-Foreign Agriculture Service workshop on food defense at the National Center for Food Protection and Defense at the University of Minnesota in August 2013. He also participated in a 2-day workshop on food defense awareness in February 2013 at the HCM Rajasthan Institute of Public Administration in Jaipur organized by Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry, Export Inspection Council of India, Food Safety and Standards Authority of India, USDA, and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. He has delivered talks on food defense at various universities and institutes.
Abraham Verghese is Director, National Bureau of Agriculturally Important Insects, Bangalore. He is also the Editor of Insect Environment. Concurrently, he serves as the president of the Society for Biocontrol Advancement and is a
member of International Fruit Fly Steering Committee. Previously, Verghese held the position of head and principal scientist of entomology division at the Indian Institute of Horticultural Research in Bangalore. At the time, he was also the chief editor of Pest Management in Horticultural Ecosystems and member of Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations Phytosanitary Committee of Asia Pacific Plant Protection Commission. Apart from that, he served as the national project coordinator of the India-U.K. Fruit Fly Project. Verghese earned his Ph.D from London and a post-doctoral from Imperial College, London. He has participated in numerous special assignments and training pro-grammes in India and abroad. In academia, he has held the position of postgraduate faculty in universities such as Agricultural Entomology, University of Agricultural Sciences, Kuvempu University, Bangalore University and Jain University. His work has been honoured with many awards in India and abroad, the most recent being Amulya Award for Innovation, Karnataka Government (2012) and Raitha Mitra Award, Mango Growers Hassan (2012). He has almost 35 years of research experience in pest management, ornithology and in advanced insect ecology. He has also published 200+ articles and journal papers in reputed international and national journals. Additionally, he has edited five professional books.
