AUI - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- CEO
- Member of the Board of Trustees
- Member of the Connect With Other Board
- President
- President and CEO, AUI, U.S. AUI Trustee, Ex Officio
Dr. Cohen is the President and CEO of AUI. He earned his bachelor's degree in materials engineering from Columbia University, his M.B.A. from the University of Chicago, and his Ph.D. in materials science and engineering from Northwestern University.
Prior to joining AUI in 2017, Dr. Cohen was finishing his term at Princeton University. Until May 2017, he served as the Deputy Under Secretary for Science and Energy at the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), overseeing basic science, applied energy research, technology development, and deployment efforts, including the stewardship of 13 of the 17 DOE National Laboratories. His experience also includes nearly seven years as Deputy Director for Operations at the Princeton Plasma Physics Lab, and 18 years at Argonne National Laboratory, where he held several positions including Deputy Associate Director for Energy Sciences and Engineering, and Deputy Director/Chief Operations Officer. He has served as head of the U.S. Delegation on the ITER Council, on the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protections' Oyster Creek Oversight Panel, and on the DOE Laboratory Operations Board. Earlier in his career, he spent four years in the U.S. Navy as a submarine officer, and he worked at Babcock & Wilcox manufacturing nuclear fuel for research reactors.
Dr. Cohen continues to serve as a Senior Associate with the Center for Strategic and International Studies Energy and National Security Program.
Job Titles:
- Andrew Hays Buchanan Professor of Astrophysics, Rice University
Job Titles:
- Honorary Trustee
- Professor of Chemistry, University of Pennsylvania
Job Titles:
- Chairman, Professor of Physics & Astronomy, McMaster University, Canada - U.S
- Professor
Professor Wilson is an internationally recognized expert in the study of gas and star formation in nearby galaxies. She has been involved in the design and development of the Atacama Large Millimeter/Submillimeter Array since its inception in 1999, and was also a member of the SPIRE instrument team for the Herschel Space Observatory.
During her more than 20-year career at McMaster University, Professor Wilson has supervised 9 Ph.D. Students and 5 postdoctoral fellows. She is also in much demand as a public speaker for both amateur astronomy and general audiences. She is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada and is currently the President of the Canadian Astronomical Society. As an AUI Trustee, she brings expertise in the techniques of high-frequency radio astronomy, in graduate and undergraduate education as well as public outreach, and an international perspective and connections.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board of Trustees
- Member of the Connect With Other Board
- Member at Columbia University
- Professor of Astronomy, Columbia University
- Professor of Astronomy, Columbia University, U.S
David J. Helfand, a faculty member at Columbia University for 43 years, served nearly half of that time as Chair of the Department of Astronomy.
He is the author of over 200 scientific publications and has mentored 22 PhD students, but most of his pedagogical efforts have been aimed at teaching science to non-science majors. He instituted the first change in Columbia's famed Core Curriculum in 50 years by introducing the course Frontiers of Science, now required for all first-year students. In 2005, he joined an effort to create Canada's first independent, non-profit university, Quest University Canada, where he served as President & Vice-Chancellor from 2008-2015. He also recently completed a four-year term as President of the American Astronomical Society, and is currently Chair of the American Institute of Physics, as well as Treasurer for Science Counts, an organization he helped found to communicate with the public about the importance and impact of publicly funded research. His first book, "A Survival Guide to the Misinformation Age" appeared, appropriately, in 2016. In addition to 50 years as a radio astronomy practitioner who has used all of AUI's facilities, he brings to the Corporation management experience with a variety of non-profit organizations.
Job Titles:
- Honorary Trustee
- Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit since 1994
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board of Trustees
- Member of the Connect With Other Board
- Vice President for Business and Finance ( Retired ), California Institute of Technology
- Vice President for Business and Finance ( Retired ), California Institute of Technology, U.S
As the Institute's primary finance officer since 2005, Mr. Currie oversees a diverse group of services, including sponsored research activities maintaining, renovating, and building facilities; managing Institute finances; and creating a safe and secure campus. Mr. Currie also acts as the primary administrative contact with Caltech's faculty club, the Athenaeum.
Prior to coming to Caltech, Mr. Currie was Vice President for Finance and Administration at Rice University (1989-2004). He earned his undergraduate (AB '69) and graduate (MBA '73) degrees from Harvard. Mr. Currie's board service includes: Associated Universities Inc. (2010 - present) NACUBO (2004-2010), Council on Governmental Relations (COGR) (2003-2006), Tuition Plan Consortium (1998-2008 and 2010 - present), The YMCA of the Rockies (1994-2003 and 2009 - present), China International Trade Associates (1988-present), TIAA-CREF Advisory Council (1996-1999), the Joslin Diabetes Center (1986-1995), and the Visiting Committee for Harvard College (1995-1998). TMT International Observatory (TIO) and Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT) (2014 - Present).
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board of Trustees
- Member of the Connect With Other Board
- Chief Astronomer and Planetarium Programs Director, the Franklin Institute, U.S
Derrick Pitts has been associated with the Franklin Institute Science Museum since 1978, designing and presenting many of the museum's public programs and exhibits.
Pitts was the original director of the Tuttleman OMNIMAX Theater, a museum vice-president and many other valued positions. He has been Chief Astronomer and Director of the Fels Planetarium since 1990, having written and produced more than two-dozen planetarium programs. He served as the US National Spokesperson for the IAU ‘International Year of Astronomy 2009' and currently is a NASA Solar System Ambassador and NASA's first Astrobiology Ambassador.
He has written numerous astronomy columns for newspapers and national magazines. He appears regularly on all the major television networks as a science content expert and, for more than two decades, has hosted award-winning astronomy radio programs for Philadelphia's WHYY 91 FM and WXPN's ‘Kids' Corner' radio program. Pitts is an ‘on-air' content contributor for national and international television networks. He's had stunning appearances on the Comedy Channel's "Colbert Report" and "The Late, Late Show with Craig Ferguson" on CBS and met President Barack Obama and his family when he was invited to the White House to participate in the first-ever White House Star Party.
Pitts is nationally known as an excellent ‘teacher'. His presentations are stimulating, humorous, intellectually challenging, compelling and at the same time accessible to the broadest audiences. He puts his emphasis on making sure that everyone can come to appreciate the universe as he sees it - not a watered-down sketch of the universe, but a rich, deep, complex version with human connections that everyone can understand at some level.
Among his many awards are the Mayor's Liberty Bell, the St. Lawrence University Distinguished Alumni Award, the G. W. Carver Medal, Please Touch Museum's "Great Friend To Kids" Award, induction into the Germantown Historical Society Hall of Fame, selection as one of the "50 Most Important Blacks in Research Science" by Science Spectrum Magazine in 2004, the 2010 inaugural recipient of the David Rittenhouse Award, honorary ‘Doctor of Science' degrees from LaSalle University (2011), Rowan University's College of Science and Mathematics(2016) and in 2013 was named Wagner Free Institute's first ‘Fellow' and awarded the honorary degree ‘Doctor of Humane Letters'.
Pitts recently served as the Science Museum, Planetarium, and Urban Outreach advisor for the world's largest research telescope at Mauna Kea Observatories, Hawaii. He also serves on the Board of Trustees for his alma mater St. Lawrence University, Associated Universities, Inc., and is the immediate past president of the Greater Philadelphia Chapter of Tuskegee Airmen Inc.
Job Titles:
- Professor of Astrophysics, Harvard University, Senior Scientist, Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory
Roscoe Giles
Professor Giles is a professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Boston University (BU).
Job Titles:
- Director General - NASRDA
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board of Trustees
- Member of the Connect With Other Board
- Senior Scientist at the Space Telescope Science Institute
- Senior Scientist, Space Telescope Science Institute ( STScI )
- Senior Scientist, Space Telescope Science Institute ( STScI ), U.S
Dr. Kathryn Flanagan is a Senior Scientist at the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI). The Institute is responsible for the science operations of Hubble Space Telescope, as well as the mission and science operations of its successor, the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST). Prior to assuming the position of Interim Director in March 2015, Dr. Flanagan served as STScI's Deputy Director since October 2012.
Dr. Flanagan came to the Institute in 2007 to head the Mission Office for JWST, with responsibility for developing the JWST Science and Operations Center. She earned her PhD in physics at MIT, where she began working in the field of X-ray astronomy, with special interest in developing new instruments for space. She became part of the research staff at SAO and MIT, and has worked on multiple flight instruments.
She has been active in education, beginning with service as a Peace Corps volunteer teaching math and physics in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. She has participated in NASA's advisory structure, co-chairing strategic planning documents and serving on advisory committees.
Dr. Flanagan brings experience in managing large science projects and organizations, and a deep commitment to supporting the science community and nurturing the next generation.
Job Titles:
- Honorary Trustee
- Professor, School of Engineering and Computer Science, Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Job Titles:
- Member of the Connect With Other Board
- Dean of the College of Letters & Science, University of Wisconsin - Madison, U.S
Job Titles:
- Andrew Hays Buchanan Professor of Astrophysics, Rice University
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board of Trustees
- Member of the Connect With Other Board
- Senior Fellow for Strategic
Job Titles:
- Boyd Professor of Physics, Louisiana State University
- Boyd Professor of Physics, Louisiana State University, U.S
Gabriela González completed her undergraduate studies at the University of Córdoba in Argentina and her Ph.D. in Syracuse University.
She was a scientist at MIT, an assistant profesor at Penn State and joined the LSU faculty in 2001. Between 2011 and 2016 she was the spokesperson of the LIGO Scientific Collaboration that announced the discovery of gravitational waves in 2016. She is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and has received numerous awards, including the Edward A. Bouchet award from the American Physical Society (2007), the Bruno Rossi Prize (2016, awarded to her and the LIGO Scientific Collaboration), and the National Academy of Sciences Award for Scientific Discovery (2017, awarded to her, Peter Saulson and David Reitze).
Job Titles:
- Professor of Astronomy, Leiden University, the Netherlands
Job Titles:
- Goldwin Smith Professor of Astronomy, Cornell University
Job Titles:
- Honorary Trustee
- Research Professor and Gerhard H. Dieke Professor Emeritus of Physics and Astronomy, Johns Hopkins University
Job Titles:
- Professor of Physics, Princeton University
Job Titles:
- Honorary Trustee
- Professor of Astronomy, California Institute of Technology
Job Titles:
- Honorary Trustee
- Distinguished University Professor of Physics, Princeton University
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board of Trustees
- Member of the Connect With Other Board
Jay Marx was educated in the public schools in New York City and received his undergraduate and graduate education at Columbia University leading to a PhD in high energy physics in 1970. Following a period on the faculty at Yale University, he joined the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) in 1975. In 2006 he joined the California institute of Technology as the former Executive Director of the Laser Interferometer Gravitational Wave Observatory (LIGO).
At LBNL Jay served as Project Director for the construction of the Advanced Light Source, a world-class facility providing x-rays for basic and applied research.
Job Titles:
- Director of Administration and Finance ( Retired ), Carnegie Institution for Science, Washington, DC
Job Titles:
- Honorary Trustee
- Theodore and Sydney Rosenberg Professor of Applied Physics, Emeritus, Stanford University
Job Titles:
- Executive
- Finance
- Chief Financial Officer, the MITRE Corporation, Retired, U.S
- Chief Financial Officer, the MITRE Corporation, Retired, U.S. Chief Financial Officer at Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty
Mark Kontos is a seasoned finance executive with over 25 years' experience as a chief financial officer and executive committee member at three private and public companies: AK Steel Corp, Battelle Memorial Institute and The MITRE Corporation.
In each assignment, he has transformed business models through strategic thought leadership, business analytics, performance objectives, operational efficiencies, and improved business and financial practices. He has led both expansions and turnarounds at nonprofit and for-profit businesses, driving the changes required to accelerate growth and create value in complex global businesses.
Mark has extensive corporate governance expertise. In addition to the AUI Board, he has served on the boards of government national laboratories, startup ventures, venture funds, a major regional hospital, and a science museum.
Job Titles:
- Honorary Trustee
- Goldwin Smith Professor of Astronomy, Cornell University
Job Titles:
- Professor of Astronomy, Dean of the College of Letters & Science, University of Wisconsin - Madison, U.S
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board of Trustees
- Member of the Connect With Other Board
- Director, Yale Center for Astronomy and Astrophysics, U.S
- Israel Munson Professor of Physics and Astronomy and Director, Yale Center for Astronomy and Astrophysics, U.S
- Professor of Physics
Meg Urry is the Israel Munson Professor of Physics and Astronomy and Director of the Yale Center for Astronomy and Astrophysics. She served as Chair of the Physics Department at Yale from 2007 to 2013 and served in the presidential line of the American Astronomical Society from 2013 to 2017.
Professor Urry received her Ph.D. in Physics from the Johns Hopkins University and her B.S. in Physics and Mathematics from Tufts University. Prof. Urry is a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the National Academy of Sciences, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American Physical Society and American Women in Science; received an honorary doctorate from Tufts University; and was awarded the American Astronomical Society's Annie Jump Cannon and George van Biesbroeck prizes.
Prior to moving to Yale in 2001, Prof. Urry was a senior astronomer at the Space Telescope Science Institute, which runs the Hubble Space Telescope for NASA. Professor Urry is also known for her efforts to increase the number of women and minorities in science, for which she won the 2015 Edward A. Bouchet Leadership Award from Yale University and the 2010 Women in Space Science Award from the Adler Planetarium.
Job Titles:
- Honorary Trustee
- Distinguished University Professor & Regents Professor, Institute for Physical Science & Technology, University of Maryland
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board of Trustees
- General and Scientific Director, SRON Netherlands Institute for Space Research
Michael Wise is the General and Scientific Director of SRON, the Netherlands Institute for Space Research and also holds an appointment as Professor of High Energy Astrophysics at the University of Amsterdam.
Prof. Wise obtained his PhD from the University of Virginia in 1992. After serving as a postdoc at Kitt Peak National Observatory, Wise joined the staff of the Chandra X-ray Science Center where he was part of the team that built and launched NASA's flagship Chandra X-ray observatory. In 2006 he moved to the Netherlands to join the staff of ASTRON the Netherlands Institute for Radio Astronomy to work on the design and construction of the International LOFAR Telescope. While at ASTRON, he served as LOFAR project scientist and later Head of the Astronomy division before moving to SRON in 2018 as Director.
Prof. Wise is an experienced observational astronomer whose research combines radio and X-ray data to examine how the gases in galaxies interact with their central black holes and thus affect the evolution of the galaxy and the growth of the black hole itself. In addition to his research, he has over 30 years of experience in the design, construction, and operation of large-scale astronomical facilities as well the development of advanced instrumentation and analysis tools for astronomy. He has served on numerous review and advisory committees and is currently a member of the CSIRO ATNF Steering Committee, member of the COSPAR executive committee on behalf of the Netherlands, and vice-Chair of the ESA Science Programme Committee.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board of Trustees
- Member of the Connect With Other Board
- Senior Scientist at IPAC
- Senior Scientist, IPAC, California Institute of Technology, U.S
- Senior Scientist, IPAC, Caltech
Rachel Akeson is a senior scientist at IPAC at Caltech. She has supported a wide range of NASA Astrophysics missions and community-facing projects, both ground and space-based.
Her science management experience includes roles as the Keck Interferometer Project Scientist and leading the IPAC teams supporting Kepler, the NASA Exoplanet Archive, the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope and SPHEREx.
She is an expert in interferometric observations, concentrating on understanding the formation of stellar and planetary systems and has used many facilities, including the VLA and ALMA. She received her Ph.D. from Caltech and was a Miller Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of California, Berkeley, before joining the staff at IPAC.
Job Titles:
- Honorary Trustee
- Astronomer Emeritus, Space Telescope Science Institute
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board of Trustees
- Member of the Connect With Other Board
- Chief Data Scientist, Science and Technology Facilities Council, U.K
- Chief Data Scientist, Science and Technology Facilities Council, U.K. Visiting Professor, University of Southampton, U.K
Professor Hey is Chief Data Scientist at the UK's Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) where he is responsible for developing STFC's strategy for data-intensive science and high performance computing.
Tony began his career as a theoretical physicist with a D.Phil. in particle physics from Oxford. After post-docs at Caltech and CERN, he joined the Physics Department at the University of Southampton. When his research interests moved towards parallel computing message-passing systems, he transferred to the Electronics and Computer Science Department. Tony was Director of the UK's e-Science program before joining Microsoft as a Corporate Vice President in 2005. More more about the program here.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board of Trustees
- Member of the Connect With Other Board
- Vice Chair, Director of Innovation Advisory Partners
- Vice Chair, Director of Innovation Advisory Partners, U.S
William (Bill) Harris is a Director of Innovation Advisory Partners after serving as the founding Director General of Science Foundation Ireland (2001-2006) and, then Science Foundation Arizona (2006-2020). Prior to Ireland, he was Vice President of Research and Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry at the University of South Carolina.
Dr. Harris served as Assistant Director of the Columbia University Earth Institute and President of the Biosphere 2 Center, which became a western campus of Columbia. He was selected by NSF Director Walter Massey to be Assistant Director of the Mathematical and Physical Sciences Directorate (1991-1996) after establishing the first 25 NSF Science and Technology Centers. While MPS AD, his responsibilities included helping to start GEMINI Telescope, ALMA, establishing a new Magnetic Lab at Florida State, and resolving significant organization issues that ultimately led to LIGO's success.
Early in his career, Dr. Harris was named a Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar, received the Wiley Lifetime Achievement Award from California Polytechnic State University, AAAS Fellow and is an elected member of the Royal Irish Academy (RIA).
Job Titles:
- Professor Emeritus, University of California, Berkeley