NASA Administrator Sean O’Keefe has selected an
independent task force to provide recommendations regarding
the research priorities of the agency’s Office of
Biological and Physical Research (OBPR).
Designated the Research Maximization and Prioritization
Task Force, REMAP will serve as a follow on to the
International Space Station Management and Cost Evaluation
(IMCE) Task Force, which last year evaluated the budget and
management challenges facing the International Space
Station program.
REMAP is chartered to perform an independent review and
assessment of research productivity and priorities for the
entire scientific, technological and commercial portfolio
of OBPR and to provide recommendations on how best to
achieve its research goals within the President’s budget
request.
Chaired by Dr. Rae Silver, an original member of the IMCE
panel and professor of Natural and Physical Sciences at
Columbia University, the REMAP task force will provide
important guidance on how to maximize the scientific
returns on many NASA programs, including the space station.
“The space station project should be driven by specific
research objectives and will be as integral a part of
NASA’s future as any of our research centers here on
Earth,” Administrator O’Keefe said. “When people look back
and ask what was important about the International Space
Station, it will be the scientific achievements that will
be remembered.”
Dr. David Shirley, Director Emeritus of the Lawrence
Berkeley National Laboratory at the University of
California, will serve as REMAP Vice Chair. He was a
protege of Dr. Glenn Theodore Seaborg, who worked on the
Manhattan Project and was awarded the Nobel Prize in
Chemistry in 1951.
Along with Dr. Silver, fellow IMCE task force members Dr.
Richard Roberts, 1993 Nobel Laureate and Research Director
of New England Biolabs in Massachusetts and Dr. Anthony
Acrivos, Einstein Professor of Science and Engineering,
City University of New York will be among the distinguished
members that make up the REMAP Task Force.
“The charter of this task force is important and will
literally help set the bar for NASA’s future science and
research efforts on the International Space Station,” said
Mary Kicza, newly appointed Associate Administrator of
OBPR. “Its contributions will have a profound impact and
will help the agency and our international partners realize
the full potential of this unique space laboratory.”
The REMAP Task Force will convene its first session in
April. By June, the panel is expected to provide its report
to the NASA Advisory Council, which will review the
findings and formally present its recommendations to
Administrator O’Keefe.
The complete list of members follows. Detailed biographies
are available on the Internet at:
REMAP TASK FORCE MEMBERSHIP
Rae Silver (Chair), Behavioral Endocrinology, Helene L. and Mark N. Kaplan Professor of Natural and Physical Sciences, Columbia University, N.Y. [Bio (PDF)]
David Shirley (Vice Chair) , Nuclear Physics, Director Emeritus of Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and Professor Emeritus, Univ. of California at Berkeley [Bio (PDF)]
Andreas Acrivos, Fluid Dynamics, Einstein Professor of Science and Engineering, City Univ. of New York [Bio (PDF)]
Roger Beachy, Plant Genomics, President, Donald Danforth Plant Science Center, St. Louis, Mo. [Bio (PDF)]
Raymond Bula, Plant Physiology, Former Director, Wisconsin Center for Space Automation and Robotics, Univ. of Wisconsin at Madison [Bio (PDF)]
Noel Jones, Structural Biology, Formerly Eli Lilly and Company [Bio (PDF)]
Harold Metcalf, Atomic Physics, Distinguished Teaching Professor, State University of New York At Stony Brook [Bio (PDF)]
Patricia Morris, Materials Science, Chemical Sensor Technology Manager, DuPont Company, Wilmington, Del. [Bio (PDF)]
Elaine Oran, Combustion Science, Sr. Scientist, Reactive Flow Physics Naval Research Laboratory Washington, D.C. [Bio (PDF)]
Mary Jane Osborn, Microbial Biology, Professor and Head, Univ. of Connecticut Health Center, Farmington, Conn. [Bio (PDF)]
James A. Pawelczyk, Cardiovascular Neurophysiology , Noll Physiological Research Center, Penn State University [Bio (PDF)]
Frederick Pohland, Environmental Engineering, Professor and Edward R.Weidlein Chair of Environmental Engineering, Univ. of Pittsburgh, Pa. [Bio (PDF)]
Richard Roberts, Biotechnology – Genomics, Nobel Laureate in Physiology or Medicine, 1993; Research Director, New England Biolabs, Beverly, Mass. [Bio (PDF)]
Rhea Seddon, Aerospace Medicine, Former Astronaut, Assistant Chief Medical Officer, Vanderbilt Medical group,Nashville, Tenn. [Bio (PDF)]
Gary Stein, Cell Biology, Haidak Distinguished Professor and Chair Of Cell Biology, Univ. of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester, Mass. [Bio (PDF)]
Fred Turek, Sleep and Circadian Biology, Professor, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL [Bio (PDF)]
Raymond Viskanta, Mechanical Engineering and Heat Transfer, W.F.M. Goss Distinguished Professor of Engineering, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Ind. [Bio (PDF)]
George Whitesides, Nanotechnology In Biomolecules, Mallinckrodt Professor of Chemistry, Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass. [Bio (PDF)]
Pierre Wiltzius, Materials Sciences and Engineering, Director, Beckman Institute for Advanced Science & Technology, Univ. of Illinois, Urbana [Bio (PDF)]
Laurie Zoloth, Bioethics, NASA Advisory Council; Professor of Ethics, San Francisco State Univ. [Bio (PDF)]
