Appendix A
Committee Member Biographical Sketches
Mark S. Wrighton (Chair) is currently serving as president of George Washington University. He is concurrently on sabbatical from Washington University in St. Louis where he is the James and Mary Wertsch Distinguished University Professor and Chancellor Emeritus. Dr. Wrighton served as the 14th Chancellor of the University from July 1, 1995, through May 31, 2019. He served as a presidential appointee to the National Science Board (2000–2006), which is the science policy advisor to the President and Congress and is the primary advisory board of the National Science Foundation. He is a past chair of the Business–Higher Education Forum and the Association of American Universities. Dr. Wrighton has received many awards for his research and scholarly writing, including the distinguished MacArthur Prize. He is the author of more than 300 articles in professional and scholarly journals, is the holder of 16 patents, and co-author of a book, Organometallic Photochemistry. His research interests are in the areas of transition metal catalysis, photochemistry, surface chemistry, molecular electronics, and photoprocesses at electrodes. He is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and is a member of the American Philosophical Society. Active in public and professional affairs, he has served on numerous government panels and has been a consultant to industry. He is an active member of numerous professional organizations and serves as a director on the boards of national companies and St. Louis organizations. From 1990 until 1995, he served as provost and chief academic officer at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). A member of the MIT faculty from 1972 until 1995, Dr. Wrighton became a full professor of chemistry in 1977. He was named Frederick G. Keyes Professor of Chemistry in 1981 and became head of the Chemistry Department in 1987. In 1989, he was named the first holder of the Ciba-Geigy Professorship. Wrighton received his Ph.D. in chemistry from the California Institute of Technology in 1972.
Cathy L. Tway (Vice Chair) is the Technology and Applications Director for Catalyst Technologies at Johnson Matthey. In this role, she is responsible for a global team of scientists and engineers specializing in catalysis, process technologies, and engineering design. Additionally, Dr. Tway provides technical input, oversight, and direction as well as ensures that customer-driven research and development (R&D) and engineering are delivered efficiently. Prior to joining Johnson Matthey, Dr. Tway held
positions at Dow, Celanese, Solutia, and Akzo Nobel, holding both R&D leadership and individual contributor roles. Dr. Tway has more than 25 years of industrial experience that covers the entire catalyst project life cycle including front-end opportunity identification and creation of new technologies, process scale-up, commercialization, and plant support. Over her career, she has commercialized two new inorganic materials and four catalyst technologies, with two of these processes still in use today. She has served on numerous review panels, boards, and committees including the committee for the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine consensus study report Gaseous Carbon Waste Streams Utilization. She earned her Ph.D. in physical inorganic chemistry from the University of Nebraska–Lincoln.
Ashish Arora is the Rex D. Adams Professor of Business Administration at the Fuqua School of Business at Duke University. Previously, he was a faculty member at Carnegie Mellon University, where he held the H. John Heinz Professorship until 2009. His research focuses on the economics of technology and technical change. Dr. Arora’s research has included the study of technology-intensive industries such as software, biotechnology, and chemicals; the economics of information security; and the role of patents and licensing in promoting technology start-ups. He has studied the rise of the software industry and the pharmaceutical industry in emerging economies. His current research focuses on the management of intellectual property and licensing in corporations, and innovation-based entrepreneurship. He served as co-editor of Research Policy from 2008 to 2014 and currently serves as the department editor for Management Science (Innovation and Entrepreneurship) as well as on the editorial board of Strategic Management Journal. In the past, he has served on advisory panels to the Secretary of Commerce, the National Academy of Sciences, and the Association for Computing Machinery. Dr. Arora received his Ph.D. in economics from Stanford University in 1992.
Raychelle Burks is an associate professor of chemistry at American University. Her research focuses on developing targeted, tech-tunable sensing systems for use in the lab and in the field to detect compounds of forensic interest. She has contributed to projects that aim to bring sensing systems to the market. Dr. Burks was awarded the 2020 American Chemical Society Grady-Stack Award for excellence in public engagement. Dr. Burks earned her Ph.D. in chemistry from the University of Nebraska–Lincoln in 2011.
Joseph M. DeSimone, NAE, NAM, NAS, is a professor at Stanford University with appointments in the School of Medicine, School of Engineering, and Graduate School of Business (by courtesy). Dr. DeSimone is also the board chair of Carbon, Inc., a 3-D printing company he co-founded in 2013 and of which he served as CEO until 2019. Prior to co-founding Carbon, DeSimone was a professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC) and North Carolina State University (NC State) for more than 25 years. Today, he maintains affiliations at UNC as the Chancellor’s Eminent Professor of Chemistry Emeritus and at NC State as the William R. Kenan, Jr. Distinguished Professor of Chemical Engineering Emeritus. Dr. DeSimone has made scientific breakthroughs in areas including green chemistry, new polymer materials, medical devices, nanotechnology, and 3-D printing, also co-founding several companies based on his research in addition to Carbon. In recognition of his achievements, he has received major accolades including the U.S. Presidential Green Chemistry Challenge Award, the Lemelson-MIT Prize, the American Chemical Society Award for Creative Invention, the National Academy of Sciences Award for Convergent Science, the EY Entrepreneur of the Year award, and the U.S. National Medal of Technology and Innovation. He has served at the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine on the Committee on Convergence in Biomedical Research, the Committee on Advancing Institutional Transformation for Minority Women in Academia, and the Committee on Effectiveness of National Biosurveillance Systems: BioWatch and the Public Health System, as well as serving as co-chair
and member of the Materials Engineering Section Peer Committee, and member of the Board on Chemical Sciences and Technology. Dr. DeSimone received his B.S. in chemistry from Ursinus College and earned his Ph.D. at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University in 1990.
Shanti Gamper-Rabindran is an associate professor at the University of Pittsburgh. Dr. Gamper-Rabindran applies her interdisciplinary training by working in the intersection of economic development, public health, and environmental and energy issues. She is the contributing editor of the Shale Dilemma: A Global Perspective on Fracking and Shale Development and author of US Energy Policy: Impacts on the Economy, People and Planet. Her research examines the effectiveness of policy instruments to improve health and safety and to reduce pollution (e.g., corporate social responsibility programs, information disclosure and regulations) and the impact of investments into public goods (e.g., hazardous waste cleanup on housing values and provision of piped water on infant mortality). She received the Faculty Award for Sustainability from the University of Pittsburgh in 2020. Dr. Gamper-Rabindran earned her Ph.D. in economics from Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Jeannette M. Garcia is the senior manager for the Quantum Applications, Algorithms and Theory team at IBM Research. Her team’s research focuses on computational science applications and theory for quantum computing. Previously, Dr. Garcia’s research interests have focused on the rational design of new polymers and materials, targeting recyclable materials with unique mechanical and thermal properties. When she first joined IBM Research in 2012, she worked on high-performance and recyclable materials. She became a research staff member in 2013 and from 2017 to 2018, served as the technical advisor to Dr. Sophie Vandebroek, Chief Operating Officer of IBM Research. From 2018 to 2019, she was a manager and global lead for Quantum Applications in Quantum Chemistry and Science. Dr. Garcia earned her Ph.D. in chemistry from Boston College, where she focused on catalyst design and development.
Javier Guzman is currently the Global Research Guidance and Valuation manager in Strategy and Planning for ExxonMobil Research and Engineering. Dr. Guzman leads a group that provides active guidance to technology program planning, prioritization, and decisions. Dr. Guzman worked in academia for 4 years before starting his industrial career in 2009. During his 11-year industrial career, he has served in a number of technical leadership and management assignments. Dr. Guzman is a leader in research and development, specifically in the area of catalysis and separations for sustainable chemicals and fuels. He obtained his Ph.D. in chemical engineering from the University of California, Davis in 2003.
Martha Head is currently serving as the executive director of Computational and Data Sciences at Amgen. Dr. Head recently served as the director of the Joint Institute for Biological Sciences, a collaborative research effort between Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) and the University of Tennessee (UT) system. As director, she focused on applying the world-leading capabilities of ORNL and UT to biomedical research and health outcomes of relevance to Tennessee and the Appalachian region. Before joining ORNL, Dr. Head spent 20 years in R&D at GlaxoSmithKline Pharmaceuticals (GSK). For many of those years, Dr. Head led GSK’s U.S. Computational Chemistry team, whose accountability was to proactively and creatively apply all relevant computational tools to progressing drug discovery efforts from target selection through to selection of a candidate for clinical trials. While at GSK, Dr. Head was a co-creator of the Accelerating Therapeutics for Opportunities in Medicine (ATOM), a public–private partnership under the auspices of the Cancer Moonshot, and at ORNL continues to be a contributor to ATOM and a member of the ATOM Joint Research Council. Dr. Head also leads the Molecular Design and Analysis to Inform Therapeutics
Related to COVID-19 project sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy National Virtual Biotechnology Laboratory. Dr. Head received her Ph.D. in physical chemistry from Duke University in 1995.
Russell Moy was general counsel for the Southeastern Universities Research Association (SURA) until January 2022. In this role, Dr. Moy was responsible for managing SURA’s legal, regulatory, compliance, and technology transfer matters, and supporting the Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility’s legal staff. Dr. Moy also participates in SURA’s new technology collaborations and research initiatives. He served previously as attorney-advisor to the National Science Board at the National Science Foundation; as a senior staff officer in the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine’s Board on Science, Technology, and Economic Policy; as executive director of the President’s Committee of Advisors on Science and Technology for the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy; as a technology policy analyst at the Department of Commerce; and in the U.S. Congress House and Senate offices. Additionally, he previously was a group leader for Energy Storage Programs at Ford Motor Company’s Scientific Research Laboratory. He is admitted to practice in Michigan, the District of Columbia, and the U.S. Supreme Court. He is a Licensed Professional Engineer in Michigan and an elected fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Dr. Moy earned his Ph.D. in chemical engineering from the University of Michigan, his J.D. from Wayne State University School of Law, and his L.L.M from Georgetown University Law Center.
Kristala L. J. Prather is the Arthur D. Little Professor and Executive Officer of the Department of Chemical Engineering at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Prior to joining MIT, Dr. Prather worked 4 years in BioProcess Research and Development at the Merck Research Labs. Her research interests are centered on the design and assembly of recombinant microorganisms for the production of small molecules, with additional efforts in novel bioprocess design approaches. She particularly focuses on the elucidation of design principles for the production of unnatural organic compounds with engineered control of metabolic flux within the framework of the burgeoning field of synthetic biology. Dr. Prather is the recipient of an Office of Naval Research Young Investigator Award, a Technology Review “TR35” Young Innovator Award, a National Science Foundation CAREER Award, the Biochemical Engineering Journal Young Investigator Award, and the Charles Thom Award of the Society for Industrial Microbiology and Biotechnology. Additional honors include selection as the Van Ness Lecturer at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, and a named fellow at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering. She earned her Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley in 1999.
Jason Sello is a professor in the Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF). Prior to his appointment at UCSF, Dr. Sello was a professor in the Department of Chemistry at Brown University. Before his first faculty appointment, he investigated RNA processing in Streptomyces bacteria using genetic tools as a visiting scientist at the John Innes Centre in Norwich, England, and also studied enzymes catalyzing antibiotic biosynthesis as a postdoctoral research fellow at Harvard Medical School. In his independent career, Dr. Sello has been creatively using experimental methods from chemistry, biophysics, biochemistry, and genetics to study biological phenomena and to develop new therapeutics for infections, cancer, and neurological disorders. He has also worked on technologies for the conversion of plant biomass into commodity chemicals. He has been the recipient of several awards, including career awards from the Burroughs Welcome Fund and the National Science Foundation. In 2013, Dr. Sello was recognized with a year-long appointment at Massachusetts Institute of Technology as the Martin
Luther King, Jr. Visiting Professor of Biology. Currently, he serves on the Antimicrobial Resistance and Drug Discovery Study Section at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, and is a founding co-editor of Synthetic and Systems Biology. He earned a Ph.D. in biophysics from Harvard University in 2002.
Bala Subramaniam is the Dan F. Servey Distinguished Professor of Chemical Engineering at the University of Kansas (KU). Dr. Subramaniam is the founding director of the Center for Environmentally Beneficial Catalysis, a unique university–industry consortium that is developing and providing licensing opportunities for novel resource-efficient technologies related to fuels and chemicals. Dr. Subramaniam’s primary research interests are in catalysis and reactor engineering with emphasis on developing sustainable processes for making fuels and chemicals from both traditional and renewable feedstocks. In particular, his research has exploited tunable solvents such as supercritical fluids and gas-expanded liquids to develop greener chemical technologies. Dr. Subramaniam is the executive editor of ACS Sustainable Chemistry and Engineering and chaired the 2018 Gordon Research Conference on Green Chemistry. His honors include American Society for Engineering Education’s Dow Outstanding Young Faculty Award, Indian Institute of Chemical Engineers’ Chemcon Lectureship Award, and KU’s Higuchi Research Achievement Award. Dr. Subramaniam is a fellow of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers, the American Chemical Society Industrial & Engineering Chemistry Division, and the National Academy of Inventors. He earned his Ph.D. in chemical engineering from the University of Notre Dame in 1984.
Jean W. Tom, NAE, is currently executive director in Chemical Process Development, a group focused on developing enabling and commercial processes to manufacture small-molecule drug substances at Bristol Myers Squibb (BMS). Previously, she worked on the process development of such molecules at Merck. Her research interests are in driving new approaches to more efficiently develop compounds, drawing upon opportunities using modeling, high-throughput experimentation, and enabling technologies. She is active in external organizations driving innovations in the precompetitive collaboration for pharmaceutical development (Enabling Technologies Consortium) and supporting the chemical engineering discipline as well as efforts at BMS to attract women students to STEM fields. Dr. Tom was a member of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine Board on Chemical Science and Technology from 2010 to 2013, and was elected to the National Academy of Engineering in 2019. She received her Ph.D. in chemical engineering from Princeton University in 1993.
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