OSTP Associate Directors Confirmed

Kathie Olsen, NASA’s former chief scientist, and Richard Russell, former deputy chief of staff of the House Science Committee, were confirmed by the Senate in August as the associate directors of the Office of Science and Technology Policy. Olsen, who holds a PhD in biology from the University of California, Irvine, will head OSTP’s science division. Russell, who has a BA in biology from Yale University, will be the associate director for technology.

Before she joined NASA in 1999, Olsen was the senior staff associate for NSF’s science and technology centers. She did research on neural and genetic mechanisms underlying behavior while she was an assistant professor at SUNY Stony Brook, in the 1980s. Olsen’s portfolio at OSTP will include environment; life and physical sciences; social, behavioral sciences, and education.

Russell was the chief of staff at OSTP for several months last year. From 1995 until he joined OSTP, he worked for the House Science Committee, serving as the staff director for the subcommittee on technology before being named chief of staff for the full science committee. He will be responsible for technology, telecommunications, information technology, and space and aeronautics.