Employment and Education History,
and Selected Accomplishments
Consultant
Information policy and management, 5/15 to present.
Fellow
Chinese Academy of Sciences Presidential International Fellowship Initiative (PIFI), 09/21 - 12/22.
Scholar
National Academy of Sciences (NAS), Washington, DC., 5/15 - 9/16.
Director, Board on Research Data and Information (BRDI)
Policy and Global Affairs Division, NAS, 10/08 – 4/15. [http://www.nationalacademies.org/brdi].
- Managed a major advisory body to U.S. federal government on stewardship, policy and applications of digital data and information for science and society at the national and international levels.
- Developed and directed studies and projects on these issues.
- Directed the U.S. National Committee for CODATA (since 4/91).
- Directed the InterAcademy Panel on International Issues Program on Digital Knowledge Resources and Infrastructure in Developing Countries (1/08-12/11).
- Consulted with U.S. and foreign national government agencies and intergovernmental organizations.
- Published and spoke extensively worldwide.
Visiting Professor, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing
Institute for Remote Sensing and Digital Earth, 11/13 – 1/14 (concurrent with BRDI).
Director, Program on Digital Knowledge Resources and Infrastructure in Developing Countries
InterAcademy Partnership, 9/08 - 12/11 (concurrent with BRDI).
Director, International Scientific and Technical (S&T) Information Programs
Board on International Scientific Organizations, Policy and Global Affairs Division, NAS, 8/99 – 9/08.
- Organized international conferences, workshops, and studies on data and information management and policy, with focus on developing countries (China, Senegal, South Africa, Brazil, Chile, Peru), and on law, economics, and science policy regarding digital information in OECD countries.
- Consulted with U.S. and foreign national government agencies (e.g., Canada, China, Chile, Uganda, South Africa) and intergovernmental organizations (e.g., OECD, UNESCO, UN Global Alliance on ICT for Development, European Commission, Global Biodiversity Information Facility) on developing public information policies.
- Directed the U.S. National Committee for CODATA.
- Created the new CODATA Global Information Commons for Science Initiative.
- Coordinated intellectual property (IP) related activities for TNA.
- Represented the National Academies on information policy issues (database protection, FOIA) in Congress, 1997-2002.
Associate Executive Director
Commission on Physical Sciences, Mathematics, and Applications (CPSMA), NAS, 4/91-7/99.
- Provided administrative and management oversight for the Commission's eight discipline and applications boards, the ~90 committees organized under those boards with 50 staff and 1200 expert volunteer participants, and a $10M budget. Also participated in strategic planning and program implementation, and maintained high-level contacts with senior officials from government, industry, and academia.
- Directed major studies for the federal government in the following areas: database protection legislation; assessment of corporate R&D restructuring; quantitative assessments of the physical and mathematical sciences; issues and trends in international access to S&T data; a new strategy for the long-term retention of S&T data by the federal government; and integration of diverse environmental data (see list of publications).
- Restructured and subsequently directed the Commission's S&T information policy activities, and initiated a new Academy activity on science, technology, and law that focuses on judicial and regulatory issues in science.
- Chaired internal Academy committees to produce an institutional policy on employees' rights and responsibilities regarding electronically stored information, and to develop outcome measures to evaluate the quality and efficiency of the institution’s activities.
Senior Program Officer
Space Studies Board, NAS, 9/87-4/91.
Directed numerous strategic research and policy studies on environmental remote sensing and solar system exploration programs for NASA (see publications list below). Co-directed a study in 1990 for the President's Advisor for Science and Technology to review NASA's Earth Observing System program.
Program Officer
Space Studies Board, NAS, 11/85-9/87.
Provided similar functions as senior program officer, as described above.
Foreign Affairs Specialist
National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service, Department of Commerce, Washington, D.C., 11/84-10/85.
Worked on domestic and international remote sensing law and policy, including the drafting of the Commerce Department's Regulations for Licensing Private Land Remote Sensing Space Systems, negotiation of intergovernmental memoranda of understanding regarding the nation's civilian meteorological satellites, and coordination activities for federal interagency programs.
Private Consulting
Academy Industry Program, NASA, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Texaco, Consortium for an International Earth Science Information Network, Millennium Infotech, UNESCO, United Nations Environment Programme, National Institutes of Health, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, University of California at San Diego, Global Biodiversity Information Facility (Denmark), Canada Institute for Scientific and Technical Information, Creative Commons, CONICYT (Chile), Duke University, European Commission, CODATA, Group on Earth Observations, Chinese Academy of Sciences (various - IRSA, CEODE, RADI, IGSNRR, IMCAS, CNIC), UN World Intellectual Property Organization, ScientiCore; 1984-present.
Legal Assistant
McCutchen, Doyle, Brown & Enersen, San Francisco, CA, 1/78-5/80.
Worked in all pre-trial phases of antitrust litigation in several major cases.
Translator (part time)
Joint Publications Research Service, Arlington, VA, 1/78-6/79.
Translated from Czech to English for the U.S. government.
Chef
Restaurant Vasata, New York, NY, 6/77-1/78.
EDUCATION
University of San Diego School of Law, J.D., 1983
University of San Diego, M.A. in International Relations, 1984
University of San Diego Program on Latin American Comparative Law, Guadalajara, Mexico, Summer, 1981
University of Oregon, B.A., History, 1977
Alliance Française, Paris, Summer studies, 1972
Middlesex School, Concord, MA, 1972
Town School, New York, NY 1968
CONTINUING EDUCATION
Various senior management and technology courses and seminars, and computer applications training.
LANGUAGES
English – native language
Czech/Slovak - fluent
French – speak and read very well
Spanish – speak proficiently, read very well
Russian, German – speak and read some
HONORS AND AWARDS
National Academy of Sciences Scholar
AAAS Fellow (2011)
CODATA International Data Prize (2010)
National Academies sabbatical to the International Council for Science in Paris, France (2006)
National Research Council Special Achievement Award (1997)
National Research Council Cash Awards (2008, 1990)
Who’s Who listings
Academic scholarships: Town School, New York, NY (grades K-8); Middlesex School, Concord, MA (grades 9-12); University of San Diego