Conference
on Personnel Trends, Education Policy, and Evolving Roles of Federal and
State Natural Resources Agencies
Speaker
Biographies
Sherburne B. Abbott recently joined the American
Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) as chief international
officer, with responsibility for the International Office, and director
of a new Center for Science, Innovation and Sustainable Development. Prior
to this appointment she consulted on environmental science and sustainable
development for private foundations, the World Bank, the Brookings Institution,
and other non-governmental organizations. Until 2001, she worked at the
National Academies’ National Research Council over a 17 year period, serving
in several capacities—executive director of the Board on Sustainable Development,
where she directed the Sustainability Transition Study and the Global Change
Research Program; director of international organization programs for the
Office of International Affairs; and director of the Polar Research Board.
She also served as assistant scientific program director of the U.S. Marine
Mammal Commission, an independent federal agency, where she managed the
research program and developed a model of environmental research for monitoring
human impacts in Antarctica. She earned her bachelor's degree in biology
from Goucher College and her master's degree in environmental science and
natural resource policy from Yale University, where she was a Dodge Fellow
in Human - Animal Ecology.
Thomas J. Casadevall became USGS Central
Regional Director in January 2000. He had served as USGS Deputy Director
since February, 1998, including almost a year as acting director. For two
years previous to that, he was USGS Western Regional Director. Casadevall
also served as a geologist with the USGS Volcano Hazards Program in Hawaii
and Colorado, as advisory volcanologist to the Volcanological Survey of Indonesia.
As project chief for Volcanic Hazards and Aviation Safety from 1990-1996,
Casadevall was instrumental in organizing the First International Symposium
on Volcanic Ash and Aviation Safety. He also was a faculty member of the
Escuela Politecnica Nacional in Quito, Ecuador. He is a member of the American
Geophysical Union, the Association for Geologists for International Development,
and the International Association of Volcanology and Chemistry of Earth's
Interior. Casadevall graduated from Beloit College (Wisc.); he received
a M.S. in geology and a Ph.D. in geochemistry from the Pennsylvania State
University.
Margaret A. Cavanaugh is staff
associate for the environment at the National Science Foundation, a position
she has held since 2000. Prior to that, she served as program director
for the NSF Inorganic, Bioinorganic, and Organometallic Chemistry Program.
Currently she chairs a staff advisory committee on environmental research
and education and serves as the Executive Secretary for the NSF Advisory
Committee on Environmental Research and Education (AC-ERE). Prior to joining
the NSF, Cavanaugh was professor and chair of the chemistry department
of Saint Mary's College, Notre Dame, Indiana. Cavanaugh received her B.S.
degree from the University of Pittsburgh, her Ph.D. from the Catholic University
of America, and carried out postdoctoral research at Louisiana State University
in New Orleans. She is a member of the advisory board for Chemical &
Engineering News, chairs the American Chemical Society Committee on Science,
and is a founding member of COACh, an independent Committee on the Advancement
of Women Chemists.
Margaret A. Davidson is director of NOAA's
Coastal Services Center in Charleston, SC. She served as executive director
of the South Carolina Sea Grant Consortium from 1983 to 1995. Prior to
that, she served as special counsel and assistant attorney general for
the Louisiana Department of Justice. An active participant in coastal resource
management issues since 1978, Davidson earned her juris doctor (J.D. degree)
in natural resources law from Louisiana State University. She later earned
a master's degree in marine policy and resource economics from the University
of Rhode Island. Davidson holds a faculty appointment at the University
of Charleston and serves on the adjunct faculties of Clemson University
and the University of South Carolina. She has focused her professional
work on environmentally sustainable aquaculture, mitigation of coastal hazards,
and impacts of climate variability on coastal resources. Davidson served
as the acting assistant administrator for NOAA's National Ocean Service
from 2000 through 2002.
Michael DeLuca is senior associate director
of the Institute of Marine and Coastal Science at Rutgers University. De
Luca initiated education and outreach efforts at RMCS in 1990, and continues
to oversee all education programs, including K-12 projects and research experiences
for undergraduate students. He also serves as manager of the Jacques Cousteau
National Estuarine Research Reserve, and Director of the Mid-Atlantic Bight
National Undersea Research Program.
Jo
Ellen Force is professor and head of the Department of Forest Resources
at the University of Idaho. She currently serves on the Executive Committee
of National Association of Professional Forestry Schools and Colleges as
chair of the Education Committee. She also is a member of the External Review
Panel for the Sustainable Forestry Initiative for the American Forest &
Paper Association. She teaches, supervises graduate students, does research
and publishes in the areas of forest policy and forest social science.
She is currently a co-PI on a 5-year National Science Foundation IGERT (Integrated
Graduate Education, Research and Teaching) for doctoral fellows to study
biodiversity conservation and sustainable production across fragmented landscapes
in the temperate forests of the northern Rockies and the tropical forests
of Costa Rica. She was elected a Fellow in the Society of American Foresters,
has held numerous state and local offices in SAF and served on a variety
of national SAF committees, including the Task Force on Accreditation Standards.
Her B.S. is from Iowa State University and her M.S. and Ph.D. are from
The Ohio State University.
John C. Gordon is Pinchot Professor Emeritus
of Forestry and Environmental Studies at the Yale School of Forestry and
Environmental Studies, where he was dean from 1983-1992. Before that he
was head and professor, Department of Forest Science, Oregon State University;
professor of forestry at Iowa State University; and principal plant physiologist
at the Pioneering Project in Wood Formation, USDA Forest Service, Rhinelander,
Wisconsin. He earned a B.S. (forest management) and Ph.D. (plant physiology
and silviculture) from Iowa State University, and has been a Fulbright
Scholar in Finland (University of Helsinki) and India (Bangalore). His
primary expertise is in the biological basis of forest productivity, the
management of research, and forest policy. He has led several national-level
assessments, including those on research and resource management in national
parks, forestry research (for the National Research Council/National Academy
of Sciences), and Indian forests and forestry. He served as a member of
the congressionally-mandated Scientific Panel on Late Successional Ecosystems,
and was co-chairman of the Seventh American Forest Congress. He has extensive
consulting experience with public and private organizations, including forest
product firms, the World Bank and the United Nations Development Programme.
Marlene Kaplan was recently named acting
director of the newly created Office of Education and Sustainable Development
in National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, where she is working
to set future directions and policies for education activities. She has
20 years of experience in NOAA, serving as the senior policy advisor to
the NOAA Executive Council and NOAA Executive Panel and as the deputy director
for legislative affairs. Kaplan holds B.S. and M.S. degrees in Biochemistry
and a Doctorate in Environmental Science and Engineering (D. Env.) from
UCLA.
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John Kusano is the Assistant Director for
Human Resource Management with the USDA Forest Service with responsibilities
for human capital management, workforce planning, recruitment, employee
development, and human resource technology. He has been with USDA for 23
years starting his career as a forester in the California Region.
Since 1990, Kusano has served in a variety of capacities in the Human Resource
Management and Civil Rights Programs. He has served as the Civil Rights
Officer on the Plumas National Forest, in California; National Special Emphasis
Program Manager and Staffing Specialist at the Forest Service's headquarters;
Director of Civil Rights in the Southwestern Region; and headquarters Assistant
Director of Civil Rights. He also served on a detail assignment as the Asian
Pacific American Program Manager in the USDA Office of Civil Rights.
Kusano recently co-chaired the USDA Human Capital Management Team. He is
a graduate of University of California at Santa Cruz and Berkeley.
He was elected vice-president of the Asian Pacific American Network in Agriculture
in 1993 and 1994. Return to Conference
Homepage
Michael Orbach is professor of marine affairs
and policy, and director of the Duke University Marine Laboratory and the
Coastal Environmental Management Program in the School of the Environment
at Duke University. His B.A. is in economics from the University of California
at Irvine, and his M.A. and Ph.D. are in cultural anthropology from the
University of California at San Diego. From 1976-79, he was social anthropologist
and social science advisor with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
in Washington, D.C. From 1979-82, he was associate director of the Center
for Coastal Marine Studies at the University of California at Santa Cruz.
From 1983-93, he was professor of anthropology in the Department of Sociology
and Anthropology and senior scientist with the Institute for Coastal and
Marine Resources at East Carolina University. He joined Duke, with offices
at the Duke Marine Laboratory in Beaufort, North Carolina, in 1993. Orbach
has conducted research and has been involved in coastal and marine policy
on all coasts of the U.S. and in Mexico, Central America, the Caribbean,
Alaska and the Pacific, and has published widely on social science and policy
in coastal and marine environments.
Robert W. Ridky was recently appointed as
national education coordinator for the U.S. Geological Survey. Prior to
this, he was a professor in the Department of Geology at the University
of Maryland in College Park, where he also held positions as senior assistant
to the chancellor and as American Council of Education Fellow. He also has
served as program director, Division of Undergraduate Education/Geosciences
at the National Science Foundation. He is a recipient of the Antarctic Service
Award, and has received both the National Association of Geology Teachers
Distinguished Service Award and the American Geological Institute's William
B. Heroy Jr. Award for Distinguished Service to the geosciences. Having
held a long commitment to the importance of geoscience education and outreach
efforts, Ridky has conducted numerous national curriculum and teacher development
programs, including the Joint Education Initiative, a cooperative data delivery
program with the USGS, NASA, and NOAA. Most recently, he assisted AGI in
the development of EarthInquiry, a program that allows undergraduate students
to maximize real-time and archived geoscience data to teach earth processes.
Robert Robinson was appointed Managing
Director for Natural Resources and the Environment at the General Accounting
Office in October 2000. As such, he is responsible for GAO's work dealing
with activities of the Department of Energy, Department of the Interior,
Department of Agriculture, Environmental Protection Agency, Nuclear Regulatory
Commissions, National Science Foundation, and the civilian activities of
the Corps of Engineers. Prior to this appointment he served for 3 years as
the Director of Planning and Reporting for two different GAO divisions where
he ensured the quality of hundreds of reports and congressional testimonies
and guided development of GAO Strategic Planning documents. Before assuming
those posts he directed GAO's work on food and agriculture issues for 5 years.
Robinson's GAO career began in 1973 after graduating from the University
of Maryland. While working in several GAO divisions and offices he held several
key duties. Of special note, he managed GAO's assessment of the more than
2,400 Grace Commission recommendations and was detailed to the Senate Committee
on Governmental Affairs to help draft related implementing legislation. Prior
to this effort, he worked on a variety of natural resources management issues. Return to Conference
Homepage
Max Stier is president and CEO of the Partnership
for Public Service. He has worked previously in all three branches of the
federal government. In 1982, he served on the personal staff of Congressman
Jim Leach. Stier clerked for Chief Judge James Oakes of the United States
Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in 1992, and clerked for Justice
David Souter of the United States Supreme Court in 1994. Between these two
positions, he served as special litigation counsel to Assistant Attorney
General Anne Bingaman at the Department of Justice. In 1995, he joined the
law firm of Williams & Connolly where he practiced primarily in the area
of white collar defense. Stier comes most recently from the Department of
Housing and Urban Development, having served as the deputy general counsel
for litigation. He also is an adjunct professor of law at Georgetown University
and is a graduate of Yale College and Stanford Law School.