William Harris

Dr. Harris’ career began as a Chemistry Professor at Furman University following a NIH Postdoctoral Fellowship in the laboratory of Chemical Physics where his research continued to focus on infrared and laser Raman spectroscopy. He was designated a Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar and was the recipient of numerous research grants. 

He was recruited to the National Science Foundation’s (NSF) to lead its physical chemistry program and was subsequently selected by NSF Director Erich Bloch to establish and develop NSF’s initial 25 Science and Technologies Research Centers (STCs).  NSF Director, Walter Massey, chose Dr. Harris to lead the largest and most complex NSF Directorate, Mathematical and Physical Sciences (MPS) where he was responsible for advances in physics, chemistry, mathematics, materials research, astronomy, and major projects such as LIGO, the Magnet Lab and the GEMINI telescopes.  MPS created an office for multidisciplinary activities in the early 1990’s to respond to unique research ideas and major equipment.

Dr. Harris was recruited to Columbia University to be the Assistant Director of its new Earth Institute and he helped transform the Biosphere 2 Center to Columbia’s west campus for several years.  Dr. Harris subsequently served as Professor of Chemistry and Vice President for Research at the University of South Carolina before being asked by the government of Ireland to be the founding Director General of Science Foundation Ireland (SFI).  SFI introduced Centers for Science, Engineering and Technology (CSETs) in Ireland that helped the country become one of the most innovative economies in the world.  He was invited to lead the EU High Level Expert Group that recommended how to design a new European Research Council.  While leading SFI, Dr. Harris also initiated successful new research partnerships with China and India.  Dr. Harris is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and an elected member of the Royal Irish Academy.  Dr. Harris received honorary degrees from the University of Ireland, Northern Arizona University, and he received the Wiley Lifetime Achievement Award from the California Polytechnic State University.

John Hegarty

Prof. Hegarty has completed a 10-year term as Provost (President) of Trinity College Dublin, Ireland’s premier university.  He has over 30 years experience in both Europe and the United States.  He has been involved in high–level research and teaching, and in his capacity as President of Trinity College has engaged with government, city organizations, enterprise and the cultural sector with a view to maximizing the potential of these sectors as economic drivers. Dr Hegarty has published 150 papers in peer-reviewed journals, has five patents and created a photonics company. He is a Fellow of the Institute of Physics and member of the Royal Irish Academy, and has honorary degrees from Queen’s University Belfast and the University of Ulster. He has a PhD in Physics from the National University of Ireland.

Mats Nordlund

Dr. Nordlund has a unique background from executive positions in academia and industry in Europe, USA, and Russia. He spent 15 years in industry, first as director of corporate technology strategy and acquisition at Saab AB, a major aerospace company, and later as Director of Research and Development for Emerson Process Management – Level and Marine. In his academic career, Dr. Nordlund recently served three years as Vice President of Research Programs at Skoltech,  a new university being established in Moscow in partnership with MIT. In the 1990s, he launched and managed the System Design and Management (SDM) program at MIT. Dr. Nordlund has also served on several national and international (EU) panels in innovation and research.

George Poste

Dr. George Poste, CBE, FRS is the Del E. Webb Professor of Health Innovation and Chief Scientist, The Complex Adaptive Systems Initiative (CASI) (http://www.casi.asu.edu) at Arizona State University (ASU). This program integrates research in genomics, synthetic biology and high performance computing to study the altered regulation of molecular networks in human diseases to develop new diagnostic tests for precision (personalized) medicine and the remote monitoring of health status using miniaturized body sensors and mobile devices. He assumed this post in 2009. From 2003 to 2009 he directed and built The Biodesign He is a Fellow of the U.K. Royal Society, the Royal College of Pathologists and the U.K. Academy of Medicine, a member of the Council for Foreign Relations, and U. S. National Academy of Medicine Board on Global Health. He has served as a member of the Defense Science Board of the U.S. Department of Defense and currently serves on advisory committees for several U.S. government agencies in defense, intelligence, national security and healthcare.

Susan Hackwood

Susan Hackwood is a Professor of the Graduate Division, Fellow of the School or Public Policy and Director of the Center for Science to Policy (S2P) at the University of California Riverside. For two decades she was the Executive Director of the California Council on Science and Technology which advises the state on all aspects of science and technology including energy, information technologies, biotechnology, nanotechnology, stem cell research, healthcare technologies, and climate change. Before joining academia, she was Department Head of Device Robotics Technology Research at AT&T Bell Labs. Dr. Hackwood became the founding Dean of the Bourns College of Engineering at the University of California Riverside, and the first woman dean of a research university in the US. She has published over 140 technical publications and holds seven patents. She is a Fellow of the IEEE and the AAAS. She has been a Visiting Scholar at the Anderson School of Management, UCLA and at the California Institute of Technology.

Enda Connolly

Enda Connolly has held leadership roles in Economic Development, Science and Innovation in Ireland for over 35 years. As Chief Executive of the Health Research Board, he led a team of seventy skilled professionals implementing a new Business Strategy that repositioned Irish health research by introducing innovative funding initiatives which place the emphasis on patient-orientated research and its application into practice. Previously, as a member of the Executive Team of IDA Ireland, he played a lead role in the development and implementation of three successful corporate strategies. Senior Management responsibilities at IDA included: Manager of Research Strategy, devising and implementing IDA’s strategy to attract R&D investment from MNC’s; Director North America, based in the US, delivering 250 new investments valued at over €5bn; Manager, International Services, developing the Services Business Sector as an emerging long-term strategic economic opportunity. Most recently, Enda has worked as a strategic advisor on economic development projects for the governments of Qatar and Saudia Arabia.

Richard Hirsh

After engaging in computational research for 18 years, and producing 45 papers, presentations, and invited lectures, Dr. Hirsh joined the National Science Foundation.  He oversaw NSF’s supercomputer centers, stimulated the generation of new software, including the first funding of NCSA Mosaic and corodinated NSF activities in computational science.  At NSF, he also led other initiatives such as the Science & Technology Centers and the NSF Challenge Application Groups.  From 1999 to 2000, he served as the NSF Science representative at the South Pole.  In 2003, Dr. Hirsh joined Science Foundation Ireland as a consultant and ICT Research Advisor.  At SFI, he was responsible for many areas of Information & Communications Technology such as: software and applications; networking and communications; data technologies; and systems.  He was also instrumental in funding two large centers, the Irish Software Engineering Center, and the Irish Center for High End Computing.

Robert Orford

Dr. Orford is a recognized national and international expert in preventive, occupational and aerospace medicine, having developed guidelines for air travel and for healthcare worker health. He has served as Deputy Minister responsible for public health and occupational health & safety in Alberta, Canada, followed by a medical career at Mayo Clinic Rochester, Mayo Clinic Healthcare London, and Mayo Clinic Arizona, where he was Chair of the Division of Preventive and Occupational Medicine and Director of the Executive Health Program, and was a pioneer in the use of information technology in the areas of public health, clinical medicine, and tehealth. He served as Medical Consultant and Joint Medical Director for Northwest Airlines and has been President of the International Airline Medical Association in addition to the Arizona Medical Association and the American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine. He is a Fellow of the American College of Physicians, the Royal College of Physicians of Canada, the Aerospace Medical Association, the American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, the American College of Preventive Medicine, and the Royal Society of Medicine.

Dan Lincoln

Daniel Lincoln is currently Associate Provost for Strategy and Planning at the State University of New York (SUNY), where he supports SUNY’s Provost in matters of system-level planning, strategy, and reporting to the Board of Trustees appointed by Governor Cuomo. SUNY is the largest comprehensive system of higher education in the United States, featuring 64 colleges and universities, a student body of 415,000, and research expenditures of $1.7 billion in 2019.

Prior to this Dr. Lincoln was Head of Policy and Strategy at Tamkeen Abu Dhabi, a subsidiary of the Executive Affairs Authority of Abu Dhabi and the government partner of New York University’s new portal campus in the United Arab Emirates. During his time in Abu Dhabi (2014-2019), Dr. Lincoln worked on the activation of NYU’s new, 2,500-student campus of NYU, including cutting-edge research facilities and NSF-compliant grant administration systems; led the external review of the NYU Abu Dhabi Research Institute and its 12 research centers; and served on the University Planning Working Group, making policy and strategic planning recommendations to senior officials in the Government of Abu Dhabi.

Henry Radda

Dr. Radda has over 4 decades of experience building human systems for educational and therapeutic success. Over the last 20 years, he specialized in Higher Education and completed his career as Chief Academic Officer of Grand Canyon University. His operational approach established The Matrix, an organizational system of shared services that allowed the GCU Colleges to leverage business partners at scale for efficiency, standardization, and outcomes, and to grow from five to now nine Colleges. During his leadership, Dr Radda led and developed a collaborative degree creation program resulting in a growth of academic programs from 114 to 312 (undergraduate, graduate, and doctoral). His data-outcome process resulted in 10 accreditations for GCU, from the Higher Learning Commission to many discipline-specific accreditations such as CCNE - Nursing, ABET - engineering, ACBSP - business, and various others. In previous leadership roles, he established a Statewide Program for substance abuse treatment that produced a positive generational impact on families. Dr. Radda’s passion is to understand the organization's mission and goals, analyze its strengths and opportunities, and then work with stakeholders to establish processes, practices, and data to improve the outcomes continually.

Mohammad Noori

Mohammad Noori has served as, the Dean of Engineering at Cal Poly, the Reynolds Professor and the Head of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at NC State University, and Higgins Professor and Head of Mechanical Enginering at WPI, and has held distinguished visiting professorships in Japan and China. He was a founding member of the National Institute of Aerospace, served as, the Chair of the National Committee of Mechanical Engineering Department Heads, a member of the Executive Board of the Engineering Deans Council, the director of Sensors programs at NSF-CMMI division, and a member of several NSF delegations for US-Japan and US-China Cooperative Research programs. Noori had the honor of being invited by President Clinton’s Special Commission on Critical Infrastructure Protection, as a national expert.  Noori has published over 240 refereed papers, given over 100 keynote and invited lectures, written and edited 12 books, and serves as either the executive editor, or the editorial board member, of several scientific journals.  He is an ASME Fellow, and has received the Japan Society for Promotion of Science Fellowship.

Pete Mackey

Across more than 25 years in leadership roles at private and public institutions in the U.S. and Europe, Pete Mackey, Ph.D., has become a specialist in institutional planning, communications strategies, and writing for scientific and educationally oriented institutions. As the top communications executive at two of the most respected colleges in the U.S. (Amherst College and Bucknell University), a national foundation (Jack Kent Cooke Foundation), an international science foundation (Science Foundation Ireland), and a comprehensive research university (the University of South Carolina), Pete built transformative strategic communications operations.

Pete has overseen communications for massive fundraising campaigns, written for everyone from Ireland’s Deputy Prime Minister to numerous college presidents, and edited such publications as the European Commission’s specially commissioned report on the future of EU high-end research. His first book, Chaos Theory and James Joyce’s Everyman, now in its second printing, explores the relationship between chaos physics and Joyce’s Ulysses.

Natasha Behl

Dr. Behl is an associate professor in the School of Social and Behavioral Sciences at Arizona State University (ASU). She explains why the promise of democratic equality remains unrealized and identifies potential ways to create more egalitarian relations in liberal democracies. She is the author of Gendered Citizenship (Oxford University Press), which received the American Political Science Association’s Lee Ann Fujii Award. Her research is published in leading journals like American Political Science Review, PS: Political Science and Politics, Feminist Formations, and Politics, Groups, and Identities. She was awarded ASU’s Outstanding Teaching Award and Outstanding Faculty Mentor Awards. She was also awarded ASU’s Excellence in Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Award and Social Impact Award. She has written for The Washington Post and given a
TEDx Talk.

Robert Corell

Prof. Robert (Bob) Corell is a Principal and a Director of the Global Environment Technology Foundation (US); Director and Co-Founder, The Rising Seas Institute (US); and Board of Trustees/Advisory Board Member at the Bermuda Institute of Ocean Sciences (In Bermuda and at Arizona State University). He is the Founder and Co-Lead of the North Atlantic-Arctic Ocean Strategic Initiative (2018 – Present) and a Co-Lead of the HV/DC SuperGrid Initiative that creates a national marketplace for electrical energy, accelerating the pace of cost-effective decarbonization of the nation’s electricity supply (2018 – Present). He led the Arctic Climate Impact Assessment (2005) and a comprehensive study of governance issues in the circumpolar Arctic. He chaired and led the U.S. Global Change Research Program for the Federal government (1986-2000). 

Dr. Corell is actively engaged in research concerned with the sciences of climate and global change and the interface between science and public policy. These efforts are designed to facilitate understanding vulnerability and sustainable development in an environmentally changing world.

He has several academic appointments, including an Adjunct Professorship at the University of Miami’s Department of Ocean Sciences and a Professorship at the University of the Arctic and its Institute of Circumpolar Reindeer Husbandry (Norway). He served as Assistant Director of the National Science Foundation (US) for Geosciences, where he had oversight for the Atmospheric, Earth, Ocean Sciences, and Polar Programs. He is an oceanographer and an engineer by background and training, having received Ph.D., M.S., and B.S. degrees at Case Western Reserve University and MIT.

David Vernon

David Vernon is a Professor at Carnegie Mellon University Africa in Rwanda. In a career spanning more than 35 years, he has worked for Westinghouse Electric in Ireland and the USA, for the European Commission and Science Foundation Ireland, and for leading universities in Europe, Russia, and the Middle East, including ten years in the United Arab Emirates. He is a past Fellow of Trinity College Dublin and presently serves on the Advisory Board of Innopolis University, Russia’s first university dedicated to information technology. He has authored five books and published over 100 articles on robotics and artificial intelligence.  As a co-chair of the IEEE Robotics and Automation Technical Committee for Cognitive Robotics and a coordinator of European technical working groups in robotics and artificial intelligence, he brings a strategic vision of research in information technology.

Mary Walshok

Dr. Walshok is the Associate Vice Chancellor for Extended Studies and Public Programs and Professor of Sociology at the University of California-San Diego. A thought leader on aligning workforce development with regional economic growth, she is the author of Blue Collar Women, Knowledge Without Boundaries, Closing America’s Job Gap and the forthcoming Invention and Reinvention: The Evolution of San Diego’s Entrepreneurial Economy. As an industrial sociologist, she has researched various American regions for the U.S. Department of Labor, NSF, and Lilly Foundation. Walshok is co-founder of CONNECT, one of the most admired innovation cluster development organizations in the world.

Roxanne Nuhaily

Roxanne has over 40 years of experience working with international students, faculty, and administrators. She brings together decades of teaching language and training teachers, living abroad and traveling overseas to meet with educators and sponsor agency personnel, and designing programs to meet the goals of sponsors, university administrators, and students. She has extensive experience working with international sponsor and university degree requirements, understanding the need for careful attention to detail in overseas educational entities' academic compliance and funding regulations. She has worked closely with funding agencies in New York City, Washington, D.C., Asia, Central, and South America, northern Europe, and the Middle East, including Libya, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Qatar, Kuwait, and the UAE. She has studied the educational systems of dozens of countries to understand how they do and do not intersect with U.S. higher education. With that knowledge, she has been able to design programs in the U.S. that meet the degree requirements of overseas universities that want to make study abroad available to their students for the intrinsic cultural and educational opportunity this provides while also maintaining their goals for time-to-degree completion in their home institution.

Jim Quick

Dr. Quick served as SMU’s first Vice Provost for Research for 15 years, leading the University advance in the Carnegie Classification from R3 to the top of R2, passing more than 55 other institutions.  He was also the founding Dean of SMU’s Moody School of Graduate and Advanced Studies, created with a $100 million gift from the Moody Foundation.  He also served 25 years in the USGS with various leadership roles, including Program Coordinator for Volcano Hazards, Chief Scientist of the Eastern Earth Surface Processes Team, and oversight committee member for the South Florida and Chesapeake Bay Restoration Programs.  His extensive international work includes 6 years residence in Saudi Arabia, as well as research in Oman, Morocco, Italy, Cyprus, and Russia.  Dr. Quick is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and recipient of the Capellini Medal of the Geological Society of Italy.

Monica Sorenson | Executive Assistant

Monica is an extremely organized administrator with 18 years of high-level executive assistant experience. For the past 12 years, she has provided these services virtually.  She is a master of details who ensures that things run smoothly behind the scenes so that those who are supported are able to keep their focus on high-level work and maximizing their time. 

Her prior work at Science Foundation Arizona comprises of working with high-level executives that include a founder of the Rodel Companies, former Chairman and CEO of the Intel Corporation, members of the National Science Board, a Director of the National Institute of Health intramural research, a Nobel prize winner in physics and founding Intel company manager from Ireland, former Director of the National Science Foundation, founding Director General of Science Foundation Ireland and a Lt. General (ret.) and Brigadier General (ret.) of the USAF.  

Monica earned a Bachelor of Business Administration degree in International Business and a Bachelor of Arts degree in Spanish at Texas Tech University in Lubbock, TX.  She also attended a private university, Monterrey Institute of Technology and Higher Education (Instituto Tecnológico y de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey), in Monterrey and Mazatlan, Mexico.

Monica, a Texas transplant, currently lives in Tucson with her husband, daughter and their dog, Bogey.

Derek Richae

Derek has over 15 years of experience in designing, developing, and implementing Web and IT software. For the last four years, Derek has worked to integrate innovative technology in healthcare systems, which included robotic process automation, remote patient monitoring with wearables, and improved clinician access with mobile devices. Previously, Derek implemented the online community and collaboration platforms for the Arizona STEM Network and Thunderbird Independent Alumni Association, both associated with creating substantial change through the dissemination of valuable resources through the Internet. Derek implemented eCommerce stores and shipping management software that increased revenues and employee efficiency. Derek's knowledge of and experience in technology spans multiple areas including web, cloud services, healthcare software, artificial intelligence, mobile apps, IoT, wireless communication, software development, and coding. Derek received his BA from the University of Wisconsin – Whitewater, MS from Arizona State University, and MBA from the University of South Dakota.

Rita Colwell

Dr. Rita R. Colwell is Distinguished University Professor at the University of Maryland, College Park and Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health and Chairman and Chief Science Officer, CosmosID, Inc.  Her interests are focused on genomics, biodiversity, and molecular microbial systematics and ecology.  Dr. Colwell is an honorary member of the microbiological societies of the UK, Australia, France, Israel, Bangladesh, India and the U.S. Dr. Colwell served as the 11th Director of the National Science Foundation from 1998 to 2004.  She has authored/co-authored 19 books and over 800 scientific publications.  She is a member of the National Academy of Science and has been awarded the Stockholm Water Prize, Order of the Rising Sun, Japan, and the US National Medal of Science.

Niamh Connolly

Dr. Niamh Connolly brings more than 25 years of professional experience in research and education, with extensive background in developing pan-European interagency policies, strategies and funding programs in the marine and maritime domain. While based with the European Science Foundation in France and Belgium, she led several interagency initiatives, and has been a member of several advisory committees. More recently, she was responsible for various senior management and strategy activities within the President’s Office of Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. She has worked in association with theEuropean Commission for more than 15 years, including as an expert evaluator of the EU’s research funding programs and national infrastructure facilities, and as an advisor on the development of EU marine and maritime research and funding strategies.

Michael Gleeson

Michael Gleeson has more than thirty years’ experience in the higher education sector in Ireland.  His former posts include Assistant Secretary of the Higher Education Authority, Secretary to the International Commission and Secretary at Trinity College, Dublin.  He also served as Director of Strategic Initiatives at Trinity and Chairman of the European Heads of University Administration Group (HUMANE). Currently, Michael is a member of the Board of St. James Hospital and chairs its Audit & Risk Committee and is a member of its Strategic Planning Committee.  He also chairs the Board of the Marino Institute of Education and is a member of The Foundation Board of The Royal Dublin Society

Jim Prindiville, CPA, CGMA

Jim is currently the Chief Operating and Financial Officer at Science Foundation Arizona.  He is a finance professional with over thirty years of experience in audit, banking, human resources, finance and accounting, with over twenty years of operational management experience in high-tech manufacturing industries. Jim is a transformation specialist and corporate leader with extensive experience in creating executive dashboard management tools used to drive superior financial results.    He is a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accounts and is also a Chartered Global Management Accountant.  Jim received his B.B.A. majoring in Accounting and Information Systems Analysis and Design from the University of Wisconsin – Madison.