E. William Colglazier, Science and Technology Adviser to the Secretary of State
Frances Colón, Deputy Science and Technology Adviser
Irina Adamashvili, Franklin Fellow
Eric Bone, Senior Scientist and Policy Advisor
Joyce Brown, Staff Assistant
Lawrence Lin, Foreign Affairs Officer
Sandra Laney, Senior Advisor for Gender, Education, and Health
Alex Kahl, AAAS Diplomacy Fellow
Daniel Oates, Science and Technology Policy Officer
Rebecca Taylor, Senior Advisor, Innovation & Entrepreneurship; IEEE Engineering & Diplomacy Fellow
Umesh Thakkar, Foreign Affairs Officer; IEEE-USA Engineering & Diplomacy Fellow
Office of the Science and Technology Adviser
Room 3240, Department of State
2201 C Street NW.
Washington, DC 20520
Tel: (202) 647-8725
Fax: (202) 647-5136
For general information or assistance, please e-mail us at:
E-mail: stas@state.gov
Frances ColónDr. Frances Colón is the Deputy Science and Technology Adviser to the Secretary of State at the U.S. Department of State where she promotes Science, Technology and Innovation (ST&I) dialogues; global scientific engagement for capacity-building, development and public diplomacy; S&T fellowships; women in science; and transformational technologies as tools of science diplomacy. Previously, Dr. Colón served the U.S. Department of State as the Science and Environment Adviser at the Western Hemisphere Affairs Bureau where she was responsible for providing technical advice on how environmental and scientific issues affected the U.S. Government's foreign policy objectives in the Americas. During that time, Dr. Colón coordinated climate change policy for the Energy and Climate Partnership of the Americas announced by President Obama in 2009, and was the lead negotiator for scientific cooperation with the region. As a AAAS Science and Technology Policy Fellow (2006-2008), Dr. Colón led the OES Bureau’s program for Muslim world outreach through K-12 science and math education cooperation. Dr. Colón earned her Ph.D. in Neuroscience in2004 from Brandeis University and her B.S. in Biology in 1997 from the University of Puerto Rico.
Dr. Irina Adamashvili joined the U.S. Department of State in 2011 as a Franklin Fellow in the Bureau of Consular Affairs, and joined the Office of the Science and Technology Adviser to the Secretary (E/STAS) in February 2012. She serves as STAS’s primary advisor on international mobility issues for science and technology professionals, including visa and immigration issues for scientists who wish to visit and/or work in the United States. Irina received a Ph.D. in Genetics from the Institute of Medical Genetics, Academy of Sciences in Moscow, Russia.
Irina is originally from the Republic of Georgia, where she worked for several years as a Professor and a Head of International Affairs at the Medical University in Tbilisi. She was a post-doctoral fellow from 1989-1990 at Osnabruk University, Germany, and from 1990-1991 at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, an affiliate of Harvard Medical School in Boston. From 1994-2010 she was an Assistant Professor of Genetics at the Louisiana State University School of Medicine in Shreveport. She has been involved in various research projects in the field of Genetics and has published numerous peer-reviewed articles. She is a member of the American Human Histocompatibility Society, the Genetic Society of America, the New York Academy of Sciences, the European Society of Human Genetics, among other organizations.
Eric BoneDr. Eric Bone currently serves as a senior advisor in the Office of the Science and Technology Adviser to the Secretary of State. His focus is on international research collaboration and science in public diplomacy. He is the Science Adviser’s primary liaison to USAID.
From 2006 to 2008, Dr. Bone served in Afghanistan as the USAID officer at the Provincial Reconstruction Team in the southern province of Uruzgan. During 2004-06 he served as an American Association for the Advancement of Science Diplomacy Fellow in the Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs (EUR) at the State Department. In that position, Dr. Bone received a Distinguished Achievement Award for his work on programs providing security, nonproliferation, and law enforcement assistance to Eastern Europe and the nations of the former Soviet Union.
Dr. Bone earned his Ph.D. in Mathematics from Brandeis University by researching elliptic curve cryptography. As a Peace Corps Volunteer in Malawi during 1995-97, he taught high school classes of up to 170 students. He graduated from Amherst College with a B.A. in Mathematics and English.
Joyce Brown has worked at the U.S. Department of State since 1999, and has served as an Staff Assistant in the Office of the Science and Technology Adviser to the Secretary since 2007. Mrs. Brown performs a variety of office management and administrative tasks in support of the STAS office.
Lawrence LinLawrence Lin is a Foreign Affairs Officer in the Office of the Science and Technology Adviser to the Secretary (STAS) at the Department of State and was formerly an American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) Fellow in the same office. Prior to his current assignment, Lawrence was a Mirzayan Fellow at the National Academy of Sciences where he worked on the initial phases of a comprehensive energy technology study titled America's Energy Future.
Lawrence completed his Ph.D. in physics at the University of California, Santa Barbara in June of 2006. His graduate research involved the use of simplified elastic models of biological membranes in theoretical calculations and computational simulations as a means for studying the role of membrane undulations in various biophysical processes. He completed his undergraduate studies at Brown University where he wrote a thesis in the area of cosmology and large scale structure of the universe.
Sandra Laney, Ph.D.Dr. Laney is a Senior Advisor for Gender, Education, and Health and an American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) Diplomacy Fellow. She is serving her fellowship in the Office of the Science and Technology Adviser to the Secretary of State (e/STAS) at the U.S. Department of State.
Prior to her fellowship, Sandra was a Research Scientist at Smith College and a Consultant for the Task Force for Global Health, Lymphatic Filariasis Support Center. Her Ph.D. was granted by Ain Shams University in Cairo, Egypt. Her graduate work focused on developing diagnostic assays for the detection of infective stage parasites in mosquito vectors important for the Global Program to Eliminate Lymphatic Filariasis (GPELF). Sandra has done field work in 13 Neglected Tropical Disease endemic countries including Cameroon, Dominican Republic, Egypt, French Polynesia, Ghana, Haiti, India, Nigeria, Papua New Guinea, Sri Lanka, Tanzania/Zanzibar, Trinidad & Tobago, and Tuvalu. Her undergraduate work was completed magna cum laude as an Ada Comstock Scholar with Highest Honors in Biological Science at Smith College where she also obtained a Master’s Degree.
Alex Kahl, Ph.D.Alex is a AAAS Diplomacy Fellow at the State Department, working as a Foreign Affairs Officer in the Office of the Science and Technology Advisor to the Secretary. As a post doctoral scientist, prior to his selection as a AAAS fellow, Alex worked at the Palmer Station Long-Term Ecological Research site in Antarctica. Alex worked at Palmer Station and along the entire Western Antarctic Peninsula studying the effects of climate change on Antarctic marine ecosystems. In addition to studying polar ecosystems, Alex's post doctoral research was also focused on expanding the use of emerging technologies to monitor polar marine environments in both the Antarctic and the Arctic. Alex's post doctoral research was conducted through Rutgers University where he also received his PhD in Oceanography.
At Rutgers, his PhD thesis focused on oceanic carbon biogeochemistry. More specifically, he studied natural sequestration of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere into the ocean. Alex was led to oceanography while studying for bachelors' degrees in Hydrology and Geography at the University of California at Santa Barbara. While in Santa Barbara Alex picked up, and hasn't quit, the habits of running nearly every day and climbing rocks as often as possible.
Daniel Oates currently serves as a Science and Technology Policy Officer in the Office of the Science and Technology Adviser to the Secretary. A graduate student at the University of Maryland-College Park, Daniel is pursuing a Master of Engineering and Public Policy, a joint program co-sponsored by the School of Engineering and the School of Public Policy. He graduated from Indiana University-Bloomington with a B.A. in Physics and Mathematics.
Rebecca TaylorMs. Taylor is IEEE-USA’s Engineering & Diplomacy Fellow for 2011 -2012. She is serving the U.S. Department of State as Senior Advisor, Innovation & Entrepreneurship in the Office of the Science and Technology Adviser to the Secretary of State. An inventor and holder of patents in the field of mobile device communications, Ms. Taylor has formed or advised numerous software and hardware technology startups over the past 20 years. She is a speaker on topics related to starting companies, and judges university-led, international business plan competitions. Ms. Taylor has a Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Science from Iowa State University and a Masters degree in Public Affairs from the University of Texas’ LBJ School.
Umesh Thakkar, Ph.D.Umesh Thakkar is a 2011 IEEE-USA Engineering and Diplomacy Fellow. In this position, he serves both as a Foreign Affairs Officer at the Department of State and as a Senior General Engineer at the Government Accountability Office. He provides expertise in designing technology assessments and in conducting performance audits with different Federal agencies. Previously, he served as a AAAS Science and Technology Policy Fellow in environmental health at the Department of Veterans Affairs. Umesh has also served as a program director in graduate education and in elementary, secondary, and informal education at the National Science Foundation. For over fifteen years, Umesh focused on improvements to science, technology, engineering, and mathematics education through the use of emerging technologies at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. The journal Science has published a science prize for online resources in education essay about his work. He received his undergraduate and graduate degrees in computer science and in instructional design and technology respectively from the Ohio State University. He has traveled to all 50 U.S. states.
