Office of the Science and Technology Adviser to the Secretary of State

Announcement of the 2007-2008 Jefferson Science Fellows

The U.S. Department of State recently announced the selection of the 2007-2008 Jefferson Science Fellows. This is the fourth group of Fellows selected since the program was established in 2003 as an initiative of the Science and Technology Adviser to the Secretary of State to further build capacity for science, technology and engineering expertise within the Department.

The Fellowship program is based on the premise that science and technology make fundamental contributions to the security, economic, health, and cultural foundations of modern societies, and are integral to the development and implementation of foreign policy. It was established to create opportunities for substantial engagement of tenured scientists and engineers from U.S. academic institutions in the work of the Department. Fellows serve one-year assignments working full time in the State Department or the U.S. Agency for International Development, then remain available to the Department as consultants after returning to their academic careers.

The program is a public-private partnership among the Department of State, universities, the Carnegie Corporation of New York, and the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. The foundations provided generous grants to support a three-year pilot program, and recently allocated an additional two years of funding to help institutionalize the JSF program within the Department of State. The home universities pay the salary and benefits of their respective faculty members during their service as Fellows. The Jefferson Science Fellows program is administered on behalf of the Department of State by the Fellowships Office of the National Academies.

The 2007-08 Jefferson Science Fellows are:

Janaki Alavalapati, Ph.D., University of Florida, School of Forest Resources and Conservation

Ross Corotis, Ph.D. (NAE), University of Colorado at Boulder, Department of Civil, Environmental and Architectural Engineering

Elsa Garmire, Ph.D. (NAE), Dartmouth College, Thayer School of Engineering

Purusottam Jena, Ph.D., Virginia Commonwealth University, Department of Physics

Marvin Paule, Ph.D., Colorado State University, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology

Jerry Peterson, Ph.D., University of Colorado at Boulder, Department of Physics

Syed Rizvi, Ph.D., Cornell University, Institute of Food Science

John Yeh, M.D., University at Buffalo, The State University of New York, Department of Gynecology-Obstetrics