Dr. John L. Schnase, a computer scientist NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. has been awarded the distinction of Fellow for 2002 of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS).
New Fellows will be presented with an official certificate and a gold and blue (representing science and engineering, respectively) rosette pin on Saturday, February 15 at the Fellows forum during the 2003 AAAS Annual Meeting in Denver, Colorado.
Schnase is one of 291 new Fellows that were elected by their peers. These individuals have been elevated to this rank because of their efforts to advance science or foster applications that are deemed scientifically or socially distinguished.
A researcher within the Earth and Space Data Computing Division, Schnase was cited for his contributions to bioinformatics and for fostering the adoption of information technologies in the study of biodiversity and the environment.
Schnase, a Nebraska native, was raised in Texas. He attended the University of Texas at Austin, Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, and received bachelor of science degrees in biology and computer science with Honors from Angelo State University, a masters of science in biology from Angelo State University, and a doctorate in computer science from Texas A&M University.
His undergraduate and early graduate work were in avian ecology, biochemistry, and medicine. As a Welch Foundation undergraduate fellow and a junior member of the biochemistry staff at the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, he was instrumental in the design, synthesis, and clinical evaluation of several chemotherapeutic agents including Dacarbazine, a drug that has been successful in the treatment of malignant melanoma.
For his master’s thesis, he determined the life history of Cassin’s Sparrow (Aimophila cassinii), which broke new ground in the use of energetics modeling to understand avian natural history. Schnase’s doctoral research was on the use of collaborative systems in biological problem solving and the database and operating system architectural needs for these new types of applications. During this time he and others established the country’s first Hypermedia Research Laboratory at Texas A&M University, which did groundbreaking work on early World Wide Web technologies.
In 1998, he organized the first joint National Science Foundation, United States Geological Survey, and NASA workshop on research directions in biodiversity and ecosystem informatics. He brought computer scientists and computer engineers together with biodiversity scientists, ecologists and natural resource managers to define a national information science and technology research agenda for this area. For his role as the principal investigator for the joint NASA/ United States Geological Survey effort to develop a national invasive species forecasting system, he received the 1999 government technology leadership award for his outstanding leadership
Schnase is a former member the president’s committee of advisors for science and technology panel on biodiversity and ecosystems . He currently serves as co-chair of the science committee for the national biological information infrastructure program and on the office of science and technology policy, committee on environment and natural resources, subcommittee on ecological systems.
Schnase also is active in educational and training activities for the emerging field of biodiversity and ecosystem informatics. He led the development of an international partnership in bioinformatics education with the Universidad de las Américas-Puebla in Mexico, and recently developed a similar program involving Texas and New Mexico universities in the RioSoft Consortium. He represented the United States on the Organization of Economic and Cultural Development steering committee for the creation of a Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF), a global extension of the National Biological Information Infrastructure. Schnase now serves as a US Delegate to GBIF and is assisting with the development of their research and education programs.
A resident of Laurel, Md., he enjoys traveling, swimming, and amateur astronomy in his free time.
