Expert Details
Analytical Chemistry and Federal Contracts, R&D Management
ID: 735800
New Mexico, USA
Since retiring he has served as a Consultant to Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Sandia National Laboratories, and Los Alamos National Laboratory. He has also been retained as an expert witness in one case dealing with potential false advertising relating to industrial chemical analyses.
Education
| Year | Degree | Subject | Institution |
|---|---|---|---|
| Year: 1984 | Degree: PhD | Subject: Analytical Chemistry | Institution: North Carolina State University |
| Year: 1978 | Degree: BS | Subject: Chemistry | Institution: North Carolina State University |
Work History
| Years | Employer | Title | Department |
|---|---|---|---|
| Years: 2017 to Present | Employer: Undisclosed | Title: Owner and CEO | Department: |
Responsibilities:Expert started his company following retirement from a 33 year career as a research scientist and technical line manager. Expert specializes in consultation and assessment of efforts undertaken by bidders and contractors in support of U.S. government sponsored R&D activities. Services offered by include evaluation and consultation for start-up and ongoing RDDTE efforts to optimize performance and effectiveness, assessment and recommendations on facility operational safety and security bases, workforce assessment and enhancement, and assessment of potential environmental and societal impacts from emerging technologies. |
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| Years | Employer | Title | Department |
| Years: 2018 to Present | Employer: Undisclosed | Title: Research Scientist | Department: Chemistry Division |
Responsibilities:Contract R&D scientist contributing to research projects in support of multiple national missions in the Chemistry Division. |
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| Years | Employer | Title | Department |
| Years: 2014 to 2017 | Employer: Los Alamos National Laboratory | Title: Division Leader | Department: Chemistry Division |
Responsibilities:As the Division Leader of Chemistry Division, led an organization of more than 350 researchers and staff within multidisciplinary groups including analytical, inorganic, physical, and radio- chemistry, to execute a portfolio of ~ $140M per year. The organization is dynamic, intellectually rich, and collaborative, with a broad portfolio of fundamental and applied research in nuclear deterrence, nuclear non-proliferation, energy, health, and environment science. The scientific staff has world‐class capabilities in synthesis, characterization, diagnostics, detection, forensic analysis, and spectroscopy and as such collaborates broadly with other technical divisions at Los Alamos in areas such as materials science, nuclear nonproliferation, and plutonium science and manufacturing. Interdisciplinary activities include nanoscience, non‐traditional chemical processing, radio‐pharmaceutical production, nuclear science, and atomic, molecular, and optical spectroscopies. The Division has strong national and international collaborations with academia, industry, and other national laboratories. In addition to technical leadership and management, engaged in personnel development, recruiting and critical skills retention in the workforce, with a strong record of support for diversity, affirmative action, ESH&Q, security, and community relations. |
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| Years | Employer | Title | Department |
| Years: 2009 to 2014 | Employer: Los Alamos National Laboratory | Title: Director and Co-Director | Department: Center for Integrated Nanotechnologies |
Responsibilities:As the Director of the Center for Integrated Nanotechnologies (CINT), had primary responsibility (with the Co-Director at Sandia National Laboratories) for the overall success of CINT, a United States Department of Energy Office of Science Nanoscale Science Research Center National User Facility with an annual operating budget of ~$21M. The Center is structured around four nanoscience thrusts; Nanoscale Electronics and Mechanics, Nanophotonics and Optical Nanomaterials, Soft Biological and Composite Nanomaterials, and Theory and Simulation of Nanoscale Phenomena. As Director, was also the Group Leader at Los Alamos of CINT within the Materials Physics and Applications (MPA) Division. MPA-CINT is an ~90 person organization (including a substantial postdoctoral and student populations) that carries out R&D for programs for a wide range of sponsors from national security to applied energy, as well as both Basic Energy Sciences (BES) materials core research and user facility support with an annual operating budget of ~$30 M. MPA-CINT’s key capabilities include chemical and physical syntheses of nanoscale and nanostructured materials; biologically inspired approaches to material design; optical, electron, and force microscopies, and micro-spectroscopies for imaging and characterization; ultrafast science; photonics and plasmonics; and metamaterials. As CINT Director, led successful DOE/Office of Basic Energy Sciences triennial reviews of Center operations in 2010 and 2013 and a Basic Energy Science Advisory Committee Facility Prioritization Review in 2013 at which CINT received the highest grade (Absolutely Central to BES mission). During tenure as Director the Center’s annual user numbers grew by ~30% from 2009 to 2014 and the peer reviewed publication acknowledging CINT increased by ~15% over the same period. During tenure as MPA-CINT Group Leader the group grew in size by ~35% and annual budget increased by ~30%. |
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| Years | Employer | Title | Department |
| Years: 1986 to 2009 | Employer: Los Alamos National Laboratory | Title: Technical Staff Member / Team Leader / Deputy Group Leader | Department: Chemistry and Materials Physics & Applications Divisions |
Responsibilities:Performed fundamental R&D in support of a broad range of national missions including nuclear waste repository science, environmental restoration, fundamental f-element science, and classified national security research. Research results have led to more than 100 peer reviewed publications to date (publishing is ongoing) in high impact factor peer-reviewed journals. Internationally recognized for advances in spectroscopic applications to discern environmental speciation of actinide elements and establishing spectroscopic and electrochemical signatures for covalent bonding in uranium chemistry. |
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| Years | Employer | Title | Department |
| Years: 1984 to 1986 | Employer: Los Alamos National Laboratory | Title: Directors Postdoctoral Fellow | Department: Chemistry |
Responsibilities:Conducted basic R&D in transitional metal chemistry for solar energy conversion applications and developing theoretical and experimental links between structure and function in electronic excited states. |
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| Years | Employer | Title | Department |
| Years: 1984 to 1984 | Employer: University of Texas, Austin | Title: Robert A. Welch Foundation Postdoctoral Fellow | Department: Chemistry |
Responsibilities:Conducted basic R&D in transitional metal chemistry for solar energy conversion applications and developing theoretical and experimental links between structure and function in electronic excited states. |
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Government Experience
| Years | Agency | Role | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Years: 2009 to 2016 | Agency: U.S. Department of Energy | Role: Program Liaison | Description: In capacity as Director of the Center for Integrated Nanotechnologies and as Division Leader of the Chemistry Division, had weekly interactions (phone conference calls, meetings, etc.) with personnel in the Office of Basic Energy Sciences, Office of Science of DOE. |
Career Accomplishments
| Associations / Societies |
|---|
| Current member of: American Chemical Society American Association for the Advancement of Science (Fellow) American Institute of Chemists (Fellow) Past member of: Materials Research Society American Geophysical Union |
| Licenses / Certifications |
|---|
| -Fellow, American Association for the Advancement of Science (2015) -Fellow, American Institute of Chemists (2015) -Los Alamos National Laboratory Director's Leadership Development Program / University of California Center for Executive Education (2016) |
| Awards / Recognition |
|---|
| - Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science - Fellows Prize for Leadership in Science and Engineering, Los Alamos National Laboratory - Fellow of the American Institute of Chemists - Doctor's Certificate from Phi Kappa Phi, (awarded for the most outstanding Ph.D. thesis) - Phi Lambda Upsilon National Chemistry Honor Society - Phi Kappa Phi National Honor Society |
| Publications and Patents Summary |
|---|
| To date (11/29/2019) Expert has authored or co-authored 104 peer-reviewed publications relating to his research in the areas of f-element chemistry, transition-metal chemistry, environmental chemistry of toxic metals, and spectroscopy and electrochemistry experiment and theory. Most of these contributions have appeared in some of the highest impact journals including Nature, Nature Chemistry, the Journal of the American Chemical Society, and Angewandte Chemie. He has also co-authored three invited book chapters relating to his areas of expertise. His peer reviewed publications have to date been cited ~ 4400 times (Web of Science statistics) with a current h-index of 42. Ten of his publications have been cited more than 100 times each. He is a co-inventor on one issued patent relating to a disposable electrochemical cell for voltammetric and electrolytic applications. |
Additional Experience
| Expert Witness Experience |
|---|
| Expert has been retained recently as an expert witness to evaluate the meaning and validity of industrial analytical laboratory results in a case of potential false advertising. Details of this case remain proprietary and the case has yet to be resolved. |
| Other Relevant Experience |
|---|
| Expert's consulting firm, was retained in the 2017-2018 period to conduct and report on a detailed assessment of the culture and operational/performance standards of the Center for Integrated Nanotechnologies (CINT), a U.S. Department of Energy national user facility jointly operated. This effort was commissioned as the Center moved into its second decade of operations and following some recent transitions in management. As part of this assessment, he created and executed a detailed web-based survey (using Survey Monkey) of the CINT community and stakeholders with an overall response rate in excess of 50%. CINT management continues to use the results of this assessment to fine-tune operations and enhance community effectiveness in meeting their user facility mission. |