Speakers

Amy Apon has been a Program Director in the Office of Advanced Cyberinfrastructure since January 2023. She is the lead Program Director for the Campus Cyberinfrastructure program within OAC. Apon joined NSF through the Intergovernmental Personnel Act from Clemson University, where she holds the rank of Professor. She previously served as Chair of the Computer Science Division and Director of the School of Computing at Clemson. Prior to Clemson, she was a faculty member at the University of Arkansas, where she founded the Arkansas High Performance Computing Center. She holds a PhD in Computer Science from Vanderbilt University and conducts research in parallel and distributed computing systems.

Anna Klimaszewski-Patterson is a geospatial scientist, biogeographer, and paleoecologist with specializations in geovisual analytics, environmental change modeling, and human-environment interactions. Her research focuses on integrating quantitative field-based ecosystem observations with climate and environmental change simulations and geovisualizations. Her applied interests include research computing facilitation, data standards, and implementing FAIR/ICON data practices. She also brings over 20 years of industry experience as a full-stack LAMP web developer.

Balaji Alwar is working with CDSS and Berkeley Research, Teaching, and Learning to design and scale the Berkeley DataHub, a service that provides interactive computing environments to educators and students across campus using open source tools in the Jupyter ecosystem and beyond. He has a bachelor's degree in computer science and graduated with a master's degree in education technology from Harvard. Previously, he was a product lead for a research project focused on upskilling at the Harvard Kennedy School. He is passionate about using technology for public goods that offer immersive and equitable learning experiences.

Dr. Bao Johri is the Vice President for Information Technology and Chief Information Officer (CIO) at Fresno State, where she leads the University’s IT strategy, infrastructure, and services. With more than 20 years of experience in information technology, Dr. Johri is a visionary and collaborative leader dedicated to advancing student success through transformational leadership and innovative technology solutions. A first-generation college graduate and proud mother of two college students, Dr. Johri brings a personal and passionate commitment to education. Her leadership is driven by a focus on academic excellence, service excellence, and trusted partnerships—supporting the success and well-being of over 25,000 Bulldog students. Through strategic collaboration with academic and administrative partners, she ensures the seamless delivery of IT services, integration of emerging technologies, and continuous enhancement of the University’s digital infrastructure. Dr. Johri joined the California State University system in 2018 at Sacramento State, serving in progressive leadership roles. As Senior Director of Planning and Strategic Projects, she led the Project Management and Change Management Office and later served as Associate Vice President for Planning and Digital Transformation and Deputy CIO. In these roles, she drove digital transformation efforts that improved student experiences and streamlined University operations. Dr. Johri holds a B.A. in Liberal Studies, an M.B.A., and an Ed.D., all from California State University, Sacramento. Her deep experience, educational background, and personal journey uniquely position her to lead with vision and compassion while fostering innovation and opportunity for Fresno State’s vibrant student community.

Dr. James Barr von Oehsen directs the Pittsburgh Supercomputing Center (PSC), a joint facility of the University of Pittsburgh and Carnegie Mellon University, where he holds leadership positions as Vice Chancellor for Research Computing at Pitt and Senior Advisor for Research Computing and Data at CMU. Previously at Rutgers University, he now provides strategic direction for PSC as a national research resource supporting both academic and industry endeavors. His NSF and NIH-funded research focuses on secure federated research and data platforms, advanced computing and networking, and workforce development. Beyond his administrative roles, he maintains research professor appointments in electrical and computer engineering at both universities and biomedical informatics at Pitt. As a founding member of the Ecosystem for Research Networking (ERN) and the Keystone AI + Quantum Factory, he works to facilitate multi-institutional academic collaborations to advance research and innovation.

Clark Fitzgerald is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Mathematics and Statistics at CSU Sacramento. His focus in teaching and research is on developing tools, techniques, and pedagogy to analyze data at scale. He has led the development of statistics and data science degree programs at CSU Sacramento. He completed his BS degree in mathematics at UC Berkeley, and his PhD in statistics at UC Davis.

David A. Strubbe is a physicist whose research focuses on theoretical condensed-matter and materials science, including electronic and optical properties, 2D and amorphous materials, photovoltaics, nanoscience, high-performance computing, and electronic-structure methods. He completed a postdoctoral appointment in Materials Science and Engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (2012–2016) and earned his Ph.D. in Physics with a designated emphasis in Nanoscale Science and Engineering from UC Berkeley (2012). He also holds an M.A. in Physics from UC Berkeley (2007) and a B.S. in Chemistry and Physics from the University of Chicago (2005).

Gerard Au serves as the Chief Information Officer at CSUSB. He joined the CSUSB Information Technology Services team as Associate Vice President for Technology Operations and Customer Support in February 2014. In September 2019, he assumed the role as Deputy CIO and Chief Information Security Officer, overseeing technology operations, research computing, and the information security portfolio at CSUSB. In his previous role as director of information technology and chief information officer at UCLA School of Nursing, Gerard led a team to expand the global footprint of the UCLA School of Nursing through the strategic use of instructional technologies. He supported over $41M of funded research from FY2010-13 and provided leadership to large-scale IT projects to include infrastructure upgrades, cloud services migration and electronic health records implementation. Gerard holds a Bachelor of Science degree in electrical engineering from UCLA as well as Master of Business Administration from CSUSB. He has over nineteen years of IT experience in higher education, having worked in the private sector for a short time and later returned to UCLA in progressively responsible roles. Gerard held several staff leader positions at UCLA and at the University of California systemwide level. He is an active EDCAUSE participant, having served on the Top 10 IT Issues panel and as faculty for the EDUCAUSE Senior Directors Seminar, Gerard helped launch the inaugural Senior Directors Program for EDUCAUSE in 2019 and the Asian Pacific American Community group in 2021.

Henry Li is a Research Software Engineer in the Cyberinfrastructure and Research IT department at San Diego State University. He completed his Master's in Computer Science at the University of California San Diego (UCSD) and frequently collaborates with researchers at both UCSD and SDSU. His work includes enabling access for researchers across the California State University system through the NSF-funded Technology Infrastructure for Data Exploration (TIDE) program and other national computational resources. Previously, he worked as a technology consultant in cloud computing at IBM and at PricewaterhouseCoopers.

Henry Neeman is the University of Oklahoma's Research Computing Director, Chief Research IT Officer, and Director of the OU Supercomputing Center for Education & Research (OSCER), as well as an Associate Professor of Engineering and an Adjunct Associate Professor of Computer Science at OU.

In addition to his own teaching and research, Dr. Neeman co-founded and co-leads the OneOklahoma Cyberinfrastructure Initiative, the Research Computing Facilitators Virtual Residency Program, the Certified Cyberinfrastructure Facilitator Training & Development program, the Cyberinfrastructure Leadership Academy, and the Supercomputing in Plain English training program. In 2016-22, he served as Joint Co-Manager of the Campus Engagement program of the Extreme Science & Engineering Discovery Environment (XSEDE) program, along with Dr. Dana Brunson, and in 2013-17 he served on the National Science Foundation's Advisory Committee for Cyberinfrastructure.

He received his BS in computer science and his BA in statistics with a minor in mathematics in 1987 from the University at Buffalo, State University of New York, his MS in CS from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) in 1990 and his PhD in CS from UIUC in 1996.

Prior to working at OU, Dr. Neeman was a postdoctoral research associate at the National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA) at UIUC, and before that served as a graduate research assistant both at NCSA and at UIUC's Center for Supercomputing Research & Development.

As CISO, Jaki will be responsible for our cybersecurity functions, policies and procedures, including statewide management and protection of ANR's institutional information and IT resources. Jaki comes to ANR with over 10 years of experience in computer operations and cybersecurity risk management. She is a certified Project Manager, a Certified Scrum Master, and an experienced CISO. In her previous position as CISO at Matica Corp (a computer software design and development company), Jaki oversaw Matica Corp's IT infrastructure, deployed complex systems, vetted third party vendors, and most recently, relocated their on-premises IT server room to a data center. Jaki has an M.S. in Computer Information Systems from Boston University and a B.A. in East Asian Studies (Cum Laude) from Union College University. Please join me in welcoming Jaki to ANR. I look forward to working with her to provide cybersecurity risk management for UCANR to support our programmatic, educational, administrative and marketing-oriented projects. She will be based at the ANR building on Second Street in Davis. I would also like to express my gratitude to Namita Kansal for her interim role the last several years in helping ANR formulate its Information Security Management Program. She will be working with us until April 30 to allow Jaki time to get oriented. Wishing Namita all the best in her future endeavors.

Jason Zurawski serves as co-PI of the Engagement and Performance Operations Center (EPOC), a National Science Foundation-funded project in collaboration with the Texas Advanced Computing Center (TACC), with responsibilities that include working with members of the research community to identify the role of networking in scientific workflows, evaluate current requirements, and suggest improvements for future innovations. He has worked in computing and networking since 2007. He holds a BS in Computer Science and Engineering from The Pennsylvania State University and an MS in Computer and Information Science from the University of Delaware. Zurawski previously worked for the University of Delaware and Internet2.

Dr. Keith Clement is a Professor of Criminology at California State University, Fresno. He has taught a variety of Criminology, Emergency Management, and Homeland Security courses as well as conducted and published research in these subject areas. Dr. Clement Chairs the Workforce Development/Education Subcommittee of the California Governors’ Cybersecurity Taskforce under the leadership of the California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services (Cal OES) and California Department of Technology. He is currently developing and implementing the California Cybersecurity Career Education Pipeline and Pathway Initiative to prepare 50,000 cybersecurity professionals for statewide entry level employment. Dr. Clement Chairs the California Community College Chancellor’s Office Public Safety Education Advisory Board (PSEAB) and was recently appointed Chair, Information Technology Subcommittee of the California Interagency Advisory Committee on Apprenticeships (IACA). In terms of previous service, Dr. Clement served as former Director for the CSU Council for Emergency Management and Homeland Security (CEMHS) California State University Chancellor’s Office Faculty Affinity Group. Dr. Clement received a U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Early Career Scientific Leadership Award in 2008. He works to enhance collaboration between the public sector, industry, and education/higher education communities to build strong state wide career pipelines and pathways in key sectors of Cybersecurity and Public Services/Safety. He served as Principal Investigator (and Co-PI) on a variety of federal and state grants and project management.

Kyle Krick is a Research Software Engineer at San Diego State University. He was trained as a fellow in the cyberinfrastructure professional program through the San Diego Supercomputer Center, where he developed interdisciplinary skills that bridge science, engineering, and computing. Kyle leverages cyberinfrastructure to empower education and research in data science, artificial intelligence, and machine learning. He currently supports education and research through open-source software and open-weight large language models on local and national high-performance computing resources.

Kristi Closser is an assistant professor at California State University, Fresno since 2017. She earned her B.A. in both chemistry and mathematics from Smith College and her Ph.D. at UC Berkeley in theoretical chemistry. As an undergraduate at Smith college she participated in research in both organic and experimental physical chemistry, but switched to theoretical chemistry in graduate school, where she focused on developing a novel method for computing excited states of large helium clusters. Before coming to Fresno, Dr. Closser also did post-doctoral research at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, and crossed over into the realm of theoretical condensed matter physics. Areas of Specialty Dr. Closser's research focuses on computing the electronically excited states of atoms and molecules and their degradation mechanisms. The methods employed are primarily ab initio, and do not depend on experimental results. By computing observables such as UV/vis or X-ray absorption spectra direct comparisons can be made and a better understanding of experimental data can be obtained. One part of the research focuses on developing better approaches for modeling electronic excitations and critical points along the degradation pathways, and the other part of the research focuses on applying the currently available methods to systems ranging from a single molecule to nanoparticles.

Olivera Grujic is an assistant professor at Cal State University, Stanislaus. She received a Ph.D. in Computer Science from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), focusing her research on big data analysis and machine learning algorithms for interpreting and categorizing genomics data. She taught core and advanced computer sciences courses at undergraduate and graduate levels at the University of Southern California (USC) and held several positions in the tech industry. At Stan State, she is teaching data structures, computer architecture, software engineering, and cybersecurity. Her research focuses on AI for Social Good. Currently, she is mentoring students who are using machine learning techniques to identify factors that would help high schoolers quit smoking.

Lars Koesterke joined the Texas Advanced Computing Center (TACC) in 2007 as a Research Associate in the High Performance Computing group. His work at TACC focuses on performance evaluation and optimization of scientific applications on large-scale computing systems. Prior to joining TACC, he held positions at the Astronomy Department at The University of Texas at Austin, NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, and the Universities of Potsdam and Kiel in Germany. Dr. Koesterke’s research areas include numerical astrophysics, stellar atmospheres, non-local thermodynamic equilibrium (non-LTE), nonlinear systems of equations, and large-scale computational modeling. He has contributed to research on solar hydrodynamical simulations and related astrophysical modeling efforts. He earned his Ph.D. in Physics from the University of Kiel (Germany) in 1993 and a Diploma in Physics from the University of Kiel in 1989.

Lauren Michael is Associate Director for Research Engagement at Internet2, focused on cyberinfrastructure strategic planning, research and education facilitation, workforce development, and community-building. Lauren leads Research Engagement consulting activities and co-leads multiple activities powering the Campus Research Computing Consortium (CaRCC) (opens in a new window). She designs stakeholder-engaging workshops and approaches for campuses and collaborations, is co-PI of the NSF-supported EAGER: Empowering RCD Professionals to Broaden Participation in the NAIRR Pilot (opens in a new window) for the National AI Research Resource (NAIRR) Pilot (opens in a new window), and co-coordinates programming for NAIRR Annual Meetings. With academic background in biochemistry and science communication, Lauren has long developed practices, and led teams and communities around cyberinfrastructure facilitation, for entities including: the Minority Serving – Cyberinfrastructure Consortium (opens in a new window); the University of Wisconsin – Madison’s Center for High Throughput Computing (opens in a new window) and Data Science Hub (opens in a new window); the OSG (opens in a new window) and NSF Partnership to Advance Throughput Computing (opens in a new window); and the ACI-REF project. She led stakeholder engagement for the 2021 NSF report on engaging “The Missing Millions (opens in a new window)” through strategic cyberinfrastructure investments. Across these activities, Lauren has served as PI or co-PI on nine federal grants, and has directly consulted with dozens of campuses and thousands of researchers and educators.

Mario Bañuelos is an Associate Professor of Mathematics at Fresno State and his work focuses on computational mathematics, data science, and real-world impact. His research has spanned from genomic anomaly detection using noisy data to incorporating time-series approaches with environmental data for understanding infectious disease dynamics. He earned his B.A. from Fresno State and his Ph.D. in Applied Mathematics at UC Merced. He is currently the PI for Cultivating Innovation and Experiential Learning Opportunities (CIELO) in Data Science, focused on increasing Fresno State’s data science opportunities, while investigating how those skills can be connected to community partners.

Mr. Farley has spent 22 years in higher education information technology organizations working both in technical and management roles. He has overseen enterprise application development and operations as well as managed data center operations. Mr. Farley has previously and continues to work with Nautilus personnel and users and joins their weekly meetings. Mr. Farley is a subcontractor senior personnel on OAC 2230127, and manages SDSU’s participation in the project.

Mohammad Firas Sada is a researcher at the San Diego Supercomputer Center specializing in deep learning, high-performance computing (HPC), and advanced networking. His work within the Nautilus Kubernetes cluster at the National Research Platform focuses on distributed AI workflows, network programmability, hardware acceleration with novel compute architectures, and scalable cyberinfrastructure for data-intensive science. His interests include optimizing AI training across GPU clusters, accelerating scientific computing with programmable networks, and developing tools for large-scale data movement and workflow automation. He enjoys collaborating with interdisciplinary teams to advance research in computing.

Natasha Majewski works with clients to surface their purpose and strategize their direction through communications and marketing, strategic planning, outreach and events, strategic partnerships, and program development. She has over 15 years of experience working with large organizations like USAID, the State Department, FIFA World Cup, the University of Nevada, Reno, and Burning Man as well as smaller community organizations, businesses, and entrepreneurs. She has a BA in Journalism and Art and a MS in Geography.

Nick Dugan is the Vice Chancellor and Chief Information Officer at UC Merced, the newest campus in the UC system. Ranked #4 in the nation for social mobility, UC Merced has established UC roots in the historically underserved San Joaquin Valley, serving a diverse student body that is 75% first-generation. As interim CIO Nick leads a team of 85 IT professionals delivering technology solutions to a growing university, enabling strategic plan objectives of achieving Carnegie R1 status and enrolling 15,000 students by 2030. Nick began his UC journey as an undergraduate at UC Santa Cruz where he studied computer science and worked as a student employee providing residential computing support at College Eight (now Rachel Carson College). Moving into a staff role after graduating, Nick has performed a variety of IT functions including research computing support, systems administration, information security, and project leadership on three different UC campuses (Santa Cruz, Davis, and Merced). Prior to becoming interim CIO Nick held several IT leadership positions on the UC Merced campus, previously as the Deputy CIO and Chief Information Security Officer. Nick holds a BA in Computer Science from UC Santa Cruz and a MS in Information Management from Arizona State.

Patrick Schmitz is Founder and Principal Consultant at Semper Cogito, providing Strategic technology consulting in Academic Research IT, Museums, Archives, and Research collections. Prior to this, he spent 12 years at UC Berkeley as Associate Director of Research IT for Architecture and Strategy, providing IT strategy and solutions in support of campus research; and Director of Berkeley Research Computing. In addition to his experience in academia, he was a researcher at Microsoft Research, Yahoo! Research, and CWI in Amsterdam, and co-founded a series of tech startups.

Peggy Kay is Associate Vice President for Academic Technology/Campus Engagement and Deputy CIO at California State University, Sacramento, where she leads academic technology strategy and a team of 38 professionals within the Information Resources and Technology division. She is focused on aligning decentralized IT organizations, advancing accessibility, and leveraging technology to support student success and institutional priorities. Previously, Peggy held senior leadership roles at the University of the Pacific and worked in the private sector with Lockheed Martin and TASC, managing complex technology and geospatial intelligence initiatives. Peggy holds graduate and undergraduate degrees in Geography from the University of Nebraska–Lincoln and is a PROSCI Certified Change Practitioner and PMP.

I am an assistant professor in the department of Computer Science at Sacramento State University. I earned my Ph.D. degree in the Department of Computer science at the University of Texas at San Antonio. In 2022, I interned at the Google (Pittsburgh). I am currently interested in AI for systems research, specifically how AI techniques can be applied to improve system efficiency and to design more intelligent and adaptive computer systems. I enjoy communicating my work and talking with students who want to learn more about computer science. Please don’t hesitate to reach out or come to my office (Riverside 5044)!

Rob Groome is the Chief Information Officer (CIO) at USC Institute for Creative Technologies, overseeing both the Information Technology and Facilities teams. Previously, Groome was the Head of IT and Information Security Officer at BlueOcean, the brandtech AI-powered decision intelligence company, headquartered in San Francisco. Groome has spent much of his career at University of Southern California (USC), joining ICT initially in 2001, as IT Manager, before being promoted to Director, IT. After almost 17 years with ICT, Groome took a promotion on the main campus, heading up the Security Operations Team within USC’s Information Technology Services (ITS) division for several years, before leaving academia for the world of Silicon Valley start-ups (BlueOcean). He re-joined ICT in 2023 as our first-ever CIO.

Ruth Marinshaw is Executive Director for Research Computing Technologies at Yale University. Prior to joining Yale, she was the CTO for Research Computing at Stanford University for 12 years. Ruth and the YCRC team provide and support a portfolio of research technologies and cyberinfrastructure services for Yale's researchers. With more than 25 years of experience in managing and leading technology teams and programs in higher ed, Ruth is especially interested in extending high-end computing to areas whose compute and analysis needs haven't been met by traditional HPC solutions. Ruth is engaged in the broader national HPC and research computing communities. She recently served as the Technical Program Co-Chair for the PEARC25 conference and continues in a leadership role for the PEARC26 conference. Until the spring of 2025, she served as co-chair of the National Science Foundation's Advisory Committee on Cyberinfrastructure and was active in the NAIRR Pilot Advisory Committee.

Sarvani Chadalapaka is the Director of Cyberinfrastructure and Research Technologies (CIRT) at the University of California, Merced, where she leads research computing and data services. She is the Principal Investigator for the NSF-funded CENVAL-ARC regional compute initiative, advancing shared capacity and workforce development across the Central Valley. Sarvani is active in RCD communities including CASC, CaRCC, Women in HPC, XSEDE Campus Champions, UC Research IT Committee and Internet2. She is a frequent speaker and panelist at PEARC, SuperComputing, Internet2 TechEx, and UC community forums.

As Principal Research Engineer for the Nevada System of Higher Education, Scotty specializes in strategic planning, management, and end-to-end application of technology to improve and accelerate scientific and research workflow. Scotty’s strategic development plan for Nevada includes improving expertise in data acquisition, networking, research computing, data management, and software infrastructure. Scotty’s Ph.D. is in Geography and Business Administration from the University of Nevada, Reno. He maintains core science activities in mountain climate and Great Basin ecohydrology, as PI or co-PI of over $33MM in grant-funded projects since 2018.

Tabitha Samuel is the Interim Director and HPC Operations Group Leader at the National Institute for Computational Sciences, University of Tennessee, Knoxville. She has over 16 years of experience in advanced research computing, spanning user support and systems programming to executing and advancing the overall vision and mission of a nationally recognized supercomputing center. An active Research Computing and Data (RCD) community member, Tabitha is co-PI of the Building Research Innovation at Community Colleges (BRICCs)-Pathways NSF award, focusing on creating meaningful pathways for collaborative research computing between community colleges and research-intensive R1 universities. Other NSF projects she leads include introducing the NAIRR program to Tennessee researchers (TN-THRIVE), and instrumenting MPI for AI workloads (MPI4AI). She is also the co-founder of Tennessee Research, Education, and Computing Collaborative (TRECC), a platform for collaboration and regional advancement in cyberinfrastructure for RCD professionals in Tennessee. Tabitha also serves on the Position Committee of the Coalition for Academic Super Computing. She is also the chair of the ACM Practice and Experiences in Advanced Research Computing (PEARC) Conference Series, and will be a co-general chair of the PEARC26 conference. Tabitha also serves as the Director for AI Enablement at the AI Tennessee Initiative. In this role, she is responsible for enabling the effective use and coordination of AI capabilities across the university’s priority initiatives, working in close collaboration with campus and state partners. Tabitha earned her PhD in Computer Science from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, where her research focused on using natural language processing techniques to improve vocabulary comprehension and retention in children. In her free time, Tabitha loves to go on awe-inspiring adventures around the world (using miles and points, of course!), and play tabletop RPGs.

Toolika Ghose, Ph.D., GISP, is the assistant director for research and teaching, cyberinfrastructure at UNLV, where she leads strategic efforts to enhance the university’s research computing and data IT capabilities. In this role, she works closely with faculty, IT teams, and academic leadership to design and implement secure, efficient, and innovative cyberinfrastructure solutions that support UNLV’s growing research and educational portfolio. Her leadership fosters institutional alignment between research needs and technology services, ensuring compliance with relevant data governance and security policies. Toolika brings extensive experience from previous roles at major higher education institutions, where she partnered with faculty to support research through thoughtful, responsive, and future-ready technology solutions. She has helped researchers navigate complex technical and regulatory challenges by co-developing workflows and environments tailored to project-specific needs. Her work has spanned research computing ecosystems, including high-performance computing, data storage, cloud services, and compliance support for projects involving human subjects and export controls. Toolika has also contributed to the advancement of institutional cyberinfrastructure through successful National Science Foundation CC* funding collaborations. At UNLV, she is focused on developing robust research computing and data support services to empower the university’s research community. A dedicated advocate for workforce development in research computing and IT, Toolika actively supports initiatives that build capacity and cultivate emerging talent in cyberinfrastructure fields. She holds a Ph.D. in electrical engineering from Wichita State University and a master’s degree in engineering from the University of Texas at Tyler. With a commitment to collaborative problem-solving and a passion for enabling research success, she continues to play a pivotal role in advancing UNLV’s mission as a leading public research institution.

William (Bill) Miller is the Senior Director for Research Computing and Data for the University of Utah. In this role, he leads the strategic direction in RCD to support and advance the University’s pioneering computational and data-enabled research; and provides leadership, strategic direction, and execution on the future research computing and data infrastructure. His portfolio includes directing the 45-person Center for High Performance Computing (CHPC), expanding public-private partnerships on Artificial Intelligence infrastructure, and engaging broadly across the state, regionally and nationally, to advance RCD for discovery and innovation. Bill is an engineer and scientist with careers in industry, academia, and government. As an engineer, he contributed to major manned and unmanned space missions at NASA and abroad. Interest in artificial neural networks led him to neuroscience. After doctoral and post-doctoral training, he conducted research in sensorimotor systems and the neural correlates of perception in faculty research positions at UC San Francisco and in Europe. Bill then joined the U.S. National Science Foundation, where he held program and management appointments across the agency over the course of 17 years. Most recently, he served as Senior Advisor of the NSF Office of Advanced Cyberinfrastructure (OAC), where he provided leadership on strategic NSF and national initiatives to expand national research access to computational, data, and AI infrastructure. He also detailed to the Department of Energy’s Office of Science where he led the multi-program Integrated Research Infrastructure (IRI) Architecture Blueprint Activity and oversaw construction of the Perlmutter HPC resource at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory’s National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center (NERSC). Bill holds a B.S.E in Aerospace Engineering from the University of Michigan and a Ph.D. in Neuroscience at the University of California-Davis.