Committee Staff

Full Committee

• Chuck Atkins, Staff Director

  Chuck serves as staff director, administrator and policy adviser to Committee Chairman Bart Gordon (D-TN). As such, he is responsible for managing a team of committee scientists, engineers, attorneys and other professional support staff. Prior to service with Mr. Gordon, he was Chief of Staff to former Rep. Scotty Baesler from 1993 to 1998.

  During his time on Capitol Hill, Chuck was elected as president of the House Administrative Assistants' Association (HAAA), a professional association of senior staff and was also selected as a Congressional Staff Fellow at the John C. Stennis Center for Public Service. In addition to a former career in community development consulting and real estate development, Chuck also taught college courses in political science and public policy. He served in the United States Marine Corps from 1966-1968, including a Vietnam tour. He holds a B.S. with honors from Georgia State University and an M.A. in public administration from The Ohio State University.

• Louis Finkel, Director of Policy and Outreach

  Louis serves as the Committee’s Director of Policy & Outreach. In this role, he is tasked with managing the committee’s agenda and organizing the chairman’s efforts to reach a broad spectrum of constituencies interested in the business of the committee. Mr. Finkel’s return to Capitol Hill and appointment to the committee staff follows nearly six years in the private sector representing the interests of educational institutions, non-profits, technology companies and energy interests. Previously, Mr. Finkel served in several legislative capacities with two different Members of Congress. His most recent congressional service was a Legislative Director to the committee Chairman, Rep. Gordon. In that capacity he served as a senior policy advisor and managed Rep. Gordon’s legislative operations. In addition, he worked on a diverse policy portfolio that included energy, transportation, education, agriculture, the environment, and consumer protection.

• Alisa Ferguson, Legislative Director

  Alisa serves as Legislative Director of the Committee, where she manages the Committee’s legislative agenda and strategy and serves as a policy advisor. She also coordinates budget and appropriations issues for programs within the Committee’s jurisdiction. Previously, Alisa worked in Chairman Gordon’s personal office, where she handled the energy and environment pieces of his Energy and Commerce Committee portfolio, as well as appropriations and other issues. She also has worked as a Legislative Assistant for Rep. Brian Baird (D-WA). Before moving to Capitol Hill, she was an associate at the Delaney Policy Group, a public affairs firm focused on high-tech policy issues, and worked at the Center for State Policy Research, where she tracked activity in state legislatures. Alisa holds a B.S.F.S. from the Georgetown University Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service.

• Leigh Ann Brown, Administrative Assistant

  Leigh Ann joined the staff in the fall of 2004. As Administrative Assistant, she handles all administrative duties for the Chairman. She is a Tennessee native and previously spent eight years in Chairman Gordon's personal office as his executive assistant and office manager. A graduate of Vanderbilt University, Leigh Ann has a degree in economics and political science.

• Jim Turner, Chief Counsel

  Jim Turner joined the professional staff of the House Committee on Science in 1977 and returned in 1984 after three years in the private sector. He currently serves as the Full Committee Chief Counsel and works across the board on the Committee's legislative agenda. Prior to 1994, Jim was the Committee's senior staff member for technology policy and a subcommittee legal counsel, including four years service as the staff director for the Technology Subcommittee. At the end of the 1970s and early 1980s, Jim worked as an energy counsel. He holds degrees from Georgetown and Yale Universities and from Westminster College, and attended the Senior Managers in Government Program at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government. Prior to his work with the Committee on Science and Technology, Jim worked for Wheelabrator-Frye, Congressman Gary Myers, NASA, and the FAA.

• John Piazza, Counsel

  John Piazza joined the professional staff of the Committee in March, 2006. His responsibilities include legislative, legal, and parliamentary process issues. In addition, he works on oversight for the Committee. John graduated with a B.A. from Columbia University in 1999, where he studied environmental science. He received a J.D. from Washington and Lee University in 2002. John is a member of the Arizona and District of Columbia Bars. Prior to joining the Committee, John was a prosecutor in Tucson, Arizona.

• Alex Dery Snider , Communications Director

  Alex handles all Committee media outreach for Chairman Gordon and serves as a communications resource for Committee Members. Prior to joining the Science Committee, she served as Communications Director to the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee and the National Research Center for Women & Families. She also worked in the Health and Social Marketing group of the communications firm Porter Novelli. Alex holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in English Writing and Speech & Theatre from St. Lawrence University.

• Alison Amor, Deputy Communications Director

  Alison serves as Deputy Communications Director for the Committee. She handles website content and development, Member outreach and press shop needs. Alison comes to the House Committee on Science and Technology from Congressman Jim Costa’s office. There, she spent two years assisting with press, writing legislative correspondence, and handled a variety of legislative issues. She holds a bachelor's degree in Political Science from the University of California, Santa Barbara. Currently, she is enrolled in a Master’s degree program at Georgetown University.

• Deborah Emerson Samantar, Legislative Clerk

  Deborah is the legislative clerk. She is responsible for clerking committee hearings and markups and maintaining documents and the official records of the committee’s activities. Deborah has an extensive knowledge of committee administrative operations. Prior to joining the Science Committee in January 2007, Deborah spent 20 years working in a number of different staff positions with the Committee on Education and Labor, serving most recently as a hearing clerk and intern coordinator. She began her Capitol Hill career in 1983 as a staff assistant for Joe Kolter (D-PA). Deborah attended Slippery Rock State in Slippery Rock, Pennsylvania and majored in elementary-secondary education. In her spare time, she serves as a Girl Scout Troop Leader.

Subcommittee on Space and Aeronautics

• Dick Obermann, Staff Director

  Dick has served as the staff member for the Committee with primary oversight responsibility for all civil space activities and aeronautics R&D activities since 1994. Before that he served as Science Advisor for the Subcommittee on Space, including oversight and budget authorization responsibilities. Dr. Obermann holds a B.S.E. and Ph.D. in Aerospace and Mechanical Sciences from Princeton University, and an M.S.E. in Aeronautics and Astronautics from Stanford University. Besides being a Fellow of the American Astronautical Society, he completed the Senior Managers in Government Program at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government. Dick started his career working on the technical staff at the MITRE Corporation and as a senior Program Officer on the Aeronautics and Space Engineering Board of the National Research Council.

• Pamela Whitney, Professional Staff

  Pamela Whitney serves as Professional Staff on the Space & Aeronautics Subcommittee. In her former position as senior program officer at the Space Studies Board of the National Research Council, National Academies, she directed studies and workshops on international cooperation in space, Earth remote sensing, Mars planetary protection, space policy, astronomy science centers, among other space technology and research topics. Ms. Whitney also served as the executive secretary of the U.S. national committee to the Committee on Space Research (COSPAR) of the International Council for Science (ICSU). She held previous positions as an analyst at the aerospace consulting firm CSP Associates, Inc., and as a researcher and writer for Time-Life Books, Inc. Ms. Whitney also conducted freelance research, writing, and project work with the National Geographic Society, the World Bank, and the U.S. Congress Office of Technology Assessment. Ms. Whitney holds an B.A. in economics from Smith College and an M.A. in international communication from The American University. She is a member of Women in Aerospace and a corresponding member of the International Academy of Astronautics.

• Allen Li , Professional Staff

  Allen serves as Professional Staff on the Space & Aeronautics Subcommittee. He joined the Subcommittee in January 2008 after retiring from the Government Accountability Office (GAO) in May 2007. As Director of GAO’s Acquisition and Sourcing Management Team, Allen led GAO’s work at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and reviewed numerous defense acquisition programs. He also served as the Team’s Director for Operations, managing day-to-day activities of a geographically dispersed group. During his career at GAO, Allen also served as Associate Director in GAO’s Energy, Resources, and Science Issue Area; and Associate Director of the Transportation Issue Area where he specialized in aviation safety and air traffic control modernization. During his tenure at GAO, he testified numerous times before Senate and House Committee and Subcommittees on civil and military issues such as the International Space Station and the F-22. Allen was selected for GAO’s Senior Executive Service in 1993. He holds a B.S. degree in Aerospace Engineering from the University of Maryland and is a senior member of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics.
  
  
• Devin Bryant, Research Assistant
  Devin Bryant joined the Committee originally as an intern for the Subcommittee on Space and Aeronautics in June of 2004, and went on to serve as Staff Assistant for the Subcommittee on Space and Aeronautics, the Subcommittee on Environment, Technology and Standards, and the Full Science Committee. In 2007, he joined the Democratic staff as Research Assistant for the Subcommittee on Space and Aeronautics. He currently handles commercial space and exploration issues. He graduated with a B.A. in Space Policy from the University of Redlands in 2004 and is originally from Los Angeles.

Subcommittee on Technology and Innovation

• Mike Quear, Staff Director

  A chemical engineer by education, Mike then worked for Union Carbide Corp. in both its research and development lab and several production locations. He received a AAAS fellowship at the Department of State in 1989 in the Oceans, Environmental and Scientific Affairs Bureau. At the State Department he focused on intellectual property rights and trade in militarily-sensitive technologies. He joined the Science Committee in 1991 to work on international scientific issues. Since 1995, he has focused on technology issues such as competitiveness, computer security, standards and trade and technology development programs (Advanced Technology Program, Manufacturing Extension Partnership, and Small Business Innovative Research).

• Rachel Jagoda Brunette, Professional Staff

  Rachel joined the Science Committee staff in February 2005. Before joining the Democratic staff, she handled math and science education issues on the Research Subcommittee under former Chairman Sherwood Boehlert. She is currently professional staff on the Technology and Innovation Subcommittee, where she handles oversight of research programs at the Department of Homeland Security, the Department of Transportation, the National Institute of Standards and Technology and other agencies. Previously, Rachel worked as project manager for housing technology at the Federation of American Scientists, and as a staffer in the public policy offices of the American Society for Engineering Education and American National Standards Institute. She has a B.A. in physics from Georgetown University and an M.A. in political management from The George Washington University. She is originally from the San Francisco Bay Area.

• Meghan Housewright, Professional Staff

  Meghan joined the Democratic Committee staff at the beginning of the 110th Congress. She serves as professional staff for the Technology and Innovation Subcommittee, where she handles oversight of research related programs at the National Institute of Standards and Technology, the Department of Homeland Security, and the Department of Transportation. Before becoming professional staff for the Committee, Meghan was the Research Assistant for the Subcommittee on Research and Science Education and the Subcommittee on Technology and Innovation. Meghan was a Peace Corps volunteer in Mali. She holds an MS degree in Environmental Engineering from Michigan Tech. University and a BA in Geology from Mount Holyoke College.

Subcommittee on Research and Science Education

• Jim Wilson, Staff Director

  Jim Wilson has been on the professional staff of the Committee since 1987. His principal responsibilities involve authorization and oversight activities for the National Science Foundation; the U.S. Fire Administration; the National Earthquake Hazards Reduction Program; and K-12, undergraduate and graduate science, mathematics, engineering and technology education programs under the Committee's jurisdiction. He staffs the Committee's legislative initiatives on nanotechnology, high performance computing and communications, and information systems security, and he assists in the Committee's oversight activities related to Federal policy and funding for university-based research in science and engineering. He received B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. degrees in Aerospace Engineering from West Virginia University and completed the Senior Managers in Government Program at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government. Previously, he managed research programs in fluid dynamics at the Air Force Office of Scientific Research in Washington, D.C., and served as an officer in the U.S. Air Force at the Flight Dynamics Laboratory at Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio.

• Dahlia Sokolov, Professional Staff
  
  Dahlia joined the Science Committee staff as an American Institute of Physics Congressional fellow in October 2004 and joined the professional staff in July 2005. For the two years prior to joining the Democratic staff, she served on the Energy Subcommittee under then-Chairman Sherwood Boehlert’s leadership. She is now assigned to the Research Subcommittee, where she works on oversight of research and education programs at the National Science Foundation. Before coming to the Hill, Dr. Sokolov completed a two-year postdoctoral research fellowship at the National Institutes of Health in the Radiation Oncology Sciences Program. Dr. Sokolov has a Ph.D. in Bioengineering from the University of Washington and a B.S. in Engineering Physics from U.C. Berkeley. Her graduate research field was acoustics in medicine. In the winter of 2001, Dr. Sokolov took leave from her graduate studies for a 12-week long internship at the National Academy of Sciences, with the Committee on Science Education K-12. That experience put her on a path to a career in science policy.

Subcommittee on Investigations and Oversight

• Dan Pearson, Staff Director

  Dan has been with the Committee on Science since 1991. He is in charge of the Investigations and Oversight Subcommittee staff. This is his second stint as Staff Director of that Subcommittee, last heading it in the 103rd Congress. In the interim, he has carried a variety of issues at different times including policy coordination, budget analysis, appropriations work, Member services work, press spokesman and oversight coordinator. Dan started on the Hill as a Legislative Assistant in the office of George E. Brown, Jr. (D-CA). Before coming to Washington, Dan earned a Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of Washington in Seattle and served on the faculty of Whitman College.

• James Paul, Professional Staff

  James began his service on the Committee in May, 1985. During his multi-decade tenure, he has dealt with a broad and eclectic set of issues. He served on the Committee's task force reviewing the findings of the Rogers Commission inquiry into the Challenger accident and then again as the Committee dealt with the loss of Columbia. Space industry oversight, particularly the troubled procurements of NOAA's next-generation weather satellites, will be a particular focus in the 110th Congress. On computer industry topics, James' current work involves oversight of agency management, Internet topics, and assuring proper handling of the data collected from scientific research funded by the Federal Government. A Ramblin' Wreck from Georgia Tech, he received a B.S. in chemistry in June 1982, and started his Capitol Hill career in the office of Rep. Harold Volkmer (D-MO).

• Douglas Pasternak, Professional Staff

  Doug is an award-winning investigative reporter who spent nearly two decades uncovering waste, fraud and mismanagement at various federal agencies, including the Department of Energy, Nuclear Regulatory Commission, U.S. Bureau of Prisons and National Reconnaissance Office, before joining the Oversight and Investigations staff of the Committee in September 2006. He came to the committee from NBC Nightly News where he was a producer on the Investigative Unit. While there, he broke several major stories, including FEMA's mishandling of ice shipments to victims of Hurricane Katrina and the Pentagon's domestic intelligence collection efforts. Prior to NBC News, he worked as an investigative reporter at U.S. News & World Report magazine for 14 years. His cover stories at U.S. News included the exposure of multi-billion dollar cost overruns, mismanagement and bungled technical assessments of the U.S. government's spy satellite programs and the Defense Department's classified development of exotic electromagnetic weapons that stun and disable without killing. Doug has a B.A. degree in Political Science from The American University in Washington, D.C. and has studied in Israel and Poland.

• Ken Jacobson, Professional Staff

  A lifelong journalist before joining the Subcommittee on Investigations and Oversight in February 2007, Ken has reported on business and economic affairs from Europe and Latin America as well as New York and Washington. His principal focus since arriving in D.C. in 1992 has been advanced technology, and in particular the current state – and future – of U.S. manufacturing, research, and high-skilled employment. Previous jobs involved reporting on the metals and mining industries, nuclear energy, the automobile and steel industries, medicine, and civil engineering. An alumnus of both the University of California at Berkeley and the Associated Press, Ken began his reporting career as a sports writer and has published a book on the Holocaust.

• Edith Holleman, Professional Staff

  Edith Holleman is currently counsel for the Investigations and Oversight Subcommittee of the House Committee on Science and Technology. Prior to that, she was an investigative staff counsel for the Energy and Commerce Committee and the Government Operations Committee of the House of Representatives.

Subcommittee on Energy and Environment

• Jean Fruci, Staff Director

  Jean joined the House Science Committee Democratic staff in July 1995. Dr. Fruci is responsible for the oversight of research programs and operational activities of the Environmental Protection Agency, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and the Department of Transportation. Prior to joining the Committee staff, she worked as a Legislative Assistant to Rep. George E. Brown (D-CA) from January 1994 through June 1995 in the areas of agriculture, resource management, energy, and the environment. Dr. Fruci received her Ph.D. in soil science from Cornell University in January 1995. Prior to returning to graduate school at Cornell, Dr. Fruci worked as a research assistant in the area of ecosystem ecology.

• Christopher King, Professional Staff

  Chris joined the Science Committee staff in January of 2002. He handles issues related to the Energy and Environment Subcommittee, which has oversight and legislative jurisdiction over a broad portfolio of civilian research, development, and demonstration programs at the Department of Energy. Before he joined the Science Committee, Chris worked in the Texas State Legislature for the Legislative Study Group, a Democratic Caucus policy advisory team, where his responsibilities included energy, environment, worker's compensation, and consumer protection policy. He also held the position of Volunteer Coordinator for the Travis County Democratic Party in Austin during the 2000 election. He holds a B.A. in Political Science from the University of Texas at Austin.

• Shimere Williams, Professional Staff

  Shimere holds a B.S. in Civil/Environmental Engineering as well as a Ph.D. in Pharmacology. Her doctoral research focused on the role of the dopaminergic signaling pathway underlying the maintenance phase of long-term potentiation (long-term memory). Shimere recently joined the Committee on Science and Technology and works on environmental, energy, and technology issues. Prior to joining the staff, her path to a career in policy began with a dynamic experience at the National Academy of Sciences. There she completed a graduate science and technology policy fellowship with the Institute for Laboratory Animal Research in the Division on Earth and Life Studies, then succeeded with the Board on Children, Youth and Families in the Institute of Medicine and Division of Behavioral and Social Sciences and Education.

• Elaine Pauloinis, Professional Staff

  Ms. Paulionis joined the Committee on Science and Technology as a professional staff member and works on the Energy and Environment Subcommittee. Elaine holds an A.B. in Political Science from Washington University and a Masters in Environmental Management (MEM) from the University of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia. Prior to joining the Science and Technology Committee, she served as Congresswoman Melissa Bean’s environment and energy legislative assistant. Her tenure on Capitol Hill also includes time spent working for Senator Ron Wyden and on the Environment and Hazardous Materials Subcommittee of the Energy and Commerce Committee.

• Michelle Dallafior, Professional Staff

  Michelle joined the Science & Technology Committee staff to work on the Energy and Environment Subcommittee focusing on energy policy. The Subcommittee has oversight and legislative jurisdiction over a wide range of civilian research, development and demonstration programs at the Department of Energy. Before she joined the Science Committee, Michelle was Chief of Staff to Representative Charles Wilson, a Member of the Committee. Prior to service with Representative Wilson (D-OH), Michelle worked for Representative Ted Strickland (D-OH) for nearly ten years. During that time she served as his Legislative Director with primary responsibility for his energy and environment policy initiatives at the Energy and Commerce Committee. During Mr. Strickland’s last year in Congress, Michelle became his Chief of Staff. In her spare time she helped to craft Mr. Strickland’s energy platform during his successful campaign for Governor of Ohio. Michelle’s first tour on the Hill was spent working for Senator John Glenn (D-OH) on Great Lakes legislative issues and in 1996 she traveled to Pennsylvania to be a field coordinator for the Clinton/Gore Coordinated Campaign. Michelle holds a B.A. in Political Science from the University of Michigan and Masters in Public Policy from Georgetown University.

• Adam Rosenberg, Professional Staff
  
  Adam Rosenberg joined the Committee in May 2007, and serves as professional staff on the Energy and Environment Subcommittee. He holds a B.S. in applied & engineering physics from Cornell University and a Ph.D. in plasma physics from Princeton University, where he studied magnetohydrodynamic instabilities and interactions between radio frequency waves and energetic ions in a large magnetic fusion experiment at the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory. While an undergraduate, he also completed internships at Argonne National Laboratory and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. From mid-2003 through 2004, Dr. Rosenberg was an American Physical Society Congressional Fellow on the Democratic staff of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee. Before joining the Science and Technology Committee, he was most recently a Program Manager in the Department of Energy Office of Science’s Fusion Energy Sciences Program, where he directly oversaw a major research facility at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology as well as several other research activities across the nation.