Renee Kathryn Carder, Ph.D.

Chief of Staff

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Renee Kathryn Carder is Chief of Staff at Argonne National Laboratory, where she directs laboratory-wide policy development, provides daily oversight of the support functions within Argonne's Office of the Director, and manages programmatic and operational reviews.

Before joining Argonne, Carder served as Assistant Vice President for Strategic Research Initiatives at the University of Chicago, Executive Director of the University of Chicago office at Argonne, and Secretary to the Board of Governors for Argonne. Her responsibilities included identifying, developing and implementing science programs and strategic initiatives that leverage the scientific and technological strengths of the University and Argonne across the biological, physical and social sciences in areas as diverse as environmental science, bioscience, nanoscience, and national security.

Carder's work contributed to the establishment of significant and permanent intellectual property and interdisciplinary research resources, including the Joint Threat Anticipation Center, a collaborative organization operated by the university and Argonne; the National Institutes of Health's naming of the University of Chicago as a Regional Center of Excellence for Biodefense and Emerging Infectious Diseases, a $43 million project, as well as an $18 million contract award to build a Regional Biocontainment Laboratory at Argonne; and the development of a new Master of Science in Threat and Response Management program offered by the Graham School of General Studies at the University of Chicago. Carder also worked to establish innovative approaches for the management of scientific collaborations, developing policies and organizational arrangements that encourage the establishment and use of supportive infrastructure.

As Executive Director of the University of Chicago office at Argonne she was responsible for overseeing the review of Argonne's scientific and engineering programs as well as operations with regard to strategic objectives, staff development, financial management, team management, and communication to ensure the effective and efficient deployment of staff and resources.

Carder completed her doctoral degree in neurobiology, anatomy and cell science at the University of Pittsburgh, and has held research positions at the University of California at Irvine, the University of California at Los Angeles, Johns Hopkins University, and most recently in the Department of Neurology at the University of Chicago.

She is author of numerous scientific articles, abstracts, book chapters and invited papers.