As many of you know, Phoenix Bioinformatics is evolving. After many successful years, the founder and Executive Director of Phoenix Bioinformatics, Dr. Eva Huala, has chosen to pursue the great adventure of retirement. The Board of Directors instituted a national search and I am honored to share that I have been selected to serve as the next Executive Director. I want to take this opportunity to wish Eva every future happiness and want to thank her for the warm welcome she extended and the grace with which she passed the baton of leadership.
For me, the Phoenix mission of advancing science by meeting the digital infrastructure and workflow needs of the research community, is at the heart of my professional life. Throughout my career, I have sought to advance science through improved access to research infrastructure and results, better administration, and stronger communities.
I also recognize that I am new to the Phoenix community so allow me to share a little bit of my background. I live in Longmont, Colorado with my spouse, Arpita, and my daughter, Roxy. Arpita is a working artist and Roxy is a spirited kindergartner. I enjoy any opportunity to be outdoors, I am an enthusiastic if undisciplined gardener, and I try to resolve more projects than I create in my home. My education includes a bachelor of science in biology from Lees-McRae College, a masters in environmental science from the College of Charleston, and a masters in public administration from the University of Colorado Denver. I am also a current doctoral candidate in public affairs at the University of Colorado Denver. My research concerns the administration of science organizations and access to research infrastructure.
Early professional experience made me fascinated with both how we access research results and how we administer science. I had the opportunity to explore this further when I, along with many others, worked to create the Southeast Coastal Ocean Observing Regional Association, one of the eleven regional associations across the US, that integrates data within the coastal zone across academic, commercial, and government sectors. I went on to do related work in support of the US Interagency Ocean Observing Committee and then, most recently, in support of the atmospheric science community while at the Unidata Program Center. Each of these organizations shared Phoenix’s commitment to the development and long-term vitality of robust and integrated information resources for research. These experiences led me to seek ways to further the use of research data through both better understanding of user communities and stronger connections, as well as to explore different funding models that can advance sustained partnerships between researchers and research infrastructure builders.
At Phoenix, I plan to continue our work supporting the potential of scientific communities. This will include the continued development and vitality of long-standing projects like TAIR and, more recently, MorphoBank. As part of this transition, I am excited and pleased to announce that Dr. Tanya Berardini has agreed to take on the role of TAIR Project Director. In addition to our work advancing Phoenix maintained projects, we continue the delivery of tailored services and support through our partner programs that utilize Phoenix expertise and tools to facilitate our partner’s transition to sustainable funding models. Lastly, we remain passionate about further work on the development of sustainable research infrastructures across science.
I believe that science is an inherently communal act. I look forward to getting to know the variety of research communities that Phoenix works with today and may work with in the future. I will be engaging more and more with these communities and I hope to get to know many of you. I strongly believe that processes build outputs and yet outcomes require relationships. It is my nature to strive for outcomes so please feel free to reach out directly ([email protected] or twitter: @admnsci). Otherwise, I hope to get to know you soon.
