CONFERENCE CHAIR

Michael O’Rourke, Interim Director, MSU Center
for Interdisciplinarity, Professor of Philosophy, AgBioResearch, Michigan State University

Michael O'Rourke is Professor of Philosophy and faculty in AgBioResearch at Michigan State University. His research interests include environmental philosophy, the nature of epistemic integration and communication in collaborative, cross-disciplinary research, and the nature of linguistic communication between intelligent agents. He is Director of the Toolbox Project, an NSF-sponsored research initiative that investigates philosophical approaches to facilitating interdisciplinary research (http://toolbox-project.org/). He has published extensively on the topics of communication, interdisciplinary theory and practice, and robotic agent design. He has been a co-principal investigator or collaborator on funded projects involving environmental science education, facilitating cross-disciplinary communication, biodiversity conservation, sustainable agriculture, resilience in environmental systems, and autonomous underwater vehicles. He co-founded and served as co-director of the Inland Northwest Philosophy Conference, an interdisciplinary conference on philosophical themes, and as co-editor of the Topics in Contemporary Philosophy series published by MIT Press.

CONFERENCE LEADERSHIP COMMITTEE

Stephanie E. Vasko, PhD, Managing Director, MSU Center for Interdisciplinarity

Julie Thompson Klein, Professor of Humanities Emerita, English Department, Wayne State University; International Research Affiliate, Transdisciplinary Lab (USYSTdLab), ETH-Zurich

Julie Thompson Klein, Ph.D., is Professor of Humanities Emerita in the English Department at Wayne State University and an Affiliate of the TdLab (Transdisciplinarity Lab) at the ETH-Zurich university for science and technology in Switzerland. She has also been a Mellon Fellow and a Visiting Professor in Digital Humanities at the University of Michigan. Klein is past president of the Association for Interdisciplinary Studies (AIS) and former editor of the AIS journal Issues in Interdisciplinary Studies. Her books include Interdisciplinarity (l990), Interdisciplinary Studies Today (co-edited 1994), Crossing Boundaries (1996), Transdisciplinarity (co-edited 2001), Interdisciplinary Education in K-12 and College (edited 2002),Mapping Interdisciplinary Studies (1999), Humanities, Culture, and Interdisciplinarity (2005), Creating Interdisciplinary Campus Cultures (2010), and Interdisciplining Digital Humanities (2015). She was also Associate Editor of The Oxford Handbook on Interdisciplinarity (2010, 2017).  Klein has received numerous honors, including the Kenneth Boulding Award for outstanding scholarship on interdisciplinarity, the Yamamoorthy & Yeh Distinguished Transdisciplinary Achievement Award, the Joseph Katz Award for Distinguished Contributions to the Practice and Discourse of General and Liberal Education, and the Science of Team Science Recognition Award. She consults on interdisciplinary programs throughout North America; is on governing boards of the INSciTS (International Network for the Science of Team Science) and HASTAC (Humanities, Arts, Science, and Technology Alliance and Collaboratory); and has served on task forces of the National Institutes of Health, National Science Foundation, and National Academies of Science. Klein is active internationally as well. She has been a Visiting Foreign Professor in Japan, a Fulbright professor in Nepal, a Foundation Visitor at the University of Auckland, and a Distinguished Women’s Scholar at the University of Victoria. She has also delivered keynote addresses throughout North and South America, Europe, Russia, Asia, Australia, and New Zealand.

PLANNING COMMITTEE

 Laura Challman Anderson, Research Staff Member – Science to Solutions, IBM Research—Almaden

Laura Challman Anderson is a Research Staff Member at the IBM Research – Almaden Center in San Jose, California, with extensive experience managing scientific and technical teams. Her Ph.D. is in Information Ecology from the Queensland University of Technology in Brisbane, Australia, and she also holds graduate degrees in Information Science (Syracuse University) and Computer Science (Pace University).  Her research focuses on the practices and dynamics of scientific and technical work teams, and her work on information sharing in distance collaboration enabled the development of a model of six key areas of scientific and technical team diversity that are important for effective collaboration.  She is a member of the International Network for the Science of Team Science, the Association for Information Science and Technology and the International Society of Cultural-historical Activity Research. She has been recognized with the Tribute to Women in Industry (2000) award and numerous IBM technical awards.

Stephen David Beck, PhD, Derryl & Helen Haymon Professor of Music, Associate Vice President, Office of Research & Economic Development, Louisiana State University

Stephen David Beck is the Haymon Professor of Composition and Computer Music. He holds a joint appointment at the Center for Computation & Technology, where he previously served as the Area Head for the Cultural Computing focus area and Director of the AVATAR Initiative in Digital Media. He was also Interim Director of the center from 2008-2010.

Dr. Beck received his Ph.D. in music composition and theory from the University of California, Los Angeles, in 1988, and held a Fulbright Fellowship in 1985-86 where he was a researcher at the Institut de Recherche et Coordination Acoustique/Musique (IRCAM) in Paris, France. His current research includes sound diffusion systems, high-performance computing applications in music, and virtual music instruments, a system of interactive computer programs that extend and expand on the performance capabilities of acoustic instruments.

Heather Billings, PhD, Assistant Professor, Administrative Lead for Team Science, Center for Clinical and Translation Science, Mayo Clinic

Heather Billings, PhD, MA, is an Assistant Professor of Medical Education and Administrative Lead for Team Science Education and Programming, Center for Clinical and Translational Science (CCaTS) Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN. Heather leads the creation and facilitation of education and programming for multidisciplinary teams with a research focus on biomedical translational teams. Heather has been involved in the SciTS community since 2014 serving in a number of leadership roles such as annual conference Co-host, Program Planning Committee, Evaluation Chair and Special Interest Group Chair. Heather has a Master’s degree in Industrial and Organizational Psychology and PhD in Adult Education. She also serves as Associate Director of Faculty Development for Mayo Clinic College of Medicine and Science and holds leadership roles on a number of medical education professional societies.

Stephen Crowley, Associate Professor of Philosophy, Boise State University

Steve Crowley, Ph.D., did much of his growing up in Adelaide, South Australia, and got interested in Philosophy as a way to escape Law School. At the University of Adelaide he focused on the study of Logic – in particular Inconsistent Logic. Crowley also spent as much time as he could climbing, kayaking and playing Aussie Rules!  (Australian football).  Eventually graduate school called and he spent way too many fascinating years in Bloomington, Indiana, working on my Ph.D. in philosophy and taking as many classes on the history and sociology of science as he could. However, even grad school must come to an end, and he was beyond fortunate to join the Philosophy Department at Boise State, where he remains to this day.   Steve is a philosopher by training. He got involved in work on interdisciplinarity and team science when he got to Idaho and became part of the Toolbox Dialogue Initiative. The Science of Team Science community has been a critical part of his professional life for the last decade and he's grateful for the opportunity to contribute to the communities continued growth and evolution. 

Karen Demby, Administrative Director for Team Science, North Carolina Translational and Clinical Sciences Institute, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Karen Demby, PhD, is the Administrative Director for Team Science Resource at North Carolina Translational and Clinical Sciences Institute (UNC CTSA) Her work over the past five years has primarily focused on working with individual or multiple teams in the context of serial meetings or single-setting research retreats to respond to research gaps, develop research programs or agendas, and help teams develop specific aims, or research proposals.  More recently, the resource has developed and implemented team science training that focuses on communication, conflict resolution, and competencies and are developing approaches related to credit for team based work for appointment, promotion, and tenure.

Deborah DiazGranados, Assistant Professor, School of Medicine, Virginia Commonwealth University

Deborah DiazGranados, PhD, is an Assistant Professor in the School of Medicine at Virginia Commonwealth University. She earned her Masters and PhD in Industrial/Organizational Psychologyfrom the University of Central Florida. As an Organizational Scientist, she focuses on understanding the impact of complexity on team processes and outcomes. Deborah's research focuses on understanding teams, leadership, and collaboration between diverse individuals in the context of healthcare and scientific research. To highlight a few of Deborah’s research qualifications, she has been funded by NASA, U.S. Office of Naval Research, U.S. Army Research Institute, and the National Institutes of Health as PI, Co-PI, research fellow, and team science researcher. To date, Deborah has published over 45 scholarly publications and over 100 presentations at national and international conferences and professional meetings. Deborah’s research has been published in peer-reviewed journals such as Journal of Applied Psychology, Human Factors, Academic Medicine, Small Group Research, Human Resource Management, Journal of Management, Current Directions in Psychological Science, The Joint Commission Journal on Quality and Patient Safety, and the Journal on Interprofessional Collaboration.

Christine Ogilvie Hendren, PhD, Assistant Research Professor, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Duke University, Executive Director, Center for the Environmental Implications of NanoTechnology (CEINT)

Dr. Christine Ogilvie Hendren is an Assistant Research Professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Duke University, and Executive Director of the Center for the Environmental Implications of NanoTechnology (CEINT), a multi-institute, interdisciplinary research center whose mission is to elucidate what governs nanomaterial behavior and impacts, and translate this understanding into directional guidance for managing potential risks. She serves as faculty co-lead for the Team Science Core of Duke’s Clinical and Translational Science Institute, through which she and her team offer consulting, courses and workshop design and facilitation to support successful team research. Her research focuses on methods, models and human processes to assess and manage environmental and health risks - particularly emerging and complex risks characterized by pervasive uncertainty. In service of this domain space, Dr. Hendren has lead communities of practice in various team science arenas including 6 years co-chairing the National Cancer Informatics Program’s Nanotechnology Working Group, and leading the development of the CEINT NanoInformatics Knowledge Commons.  She founded the Intereach (Interdisciplinary Integration Research Careers Hub) community of practice in 2015, which focuses on identifying and developing intentional career paths and professional development resources for the people who professionally shepherd and synthesize knowledge across boundaries to elevate the collective realized potential of research teams. Dr. Hendren is a trained facilitator, and has designed and facilitated numerous workshops (e.g. for EPA, Society for Risk Analysis, National Nanotechnology Coordination Office) and game-based sessions dedicated to bringing diverse cadres of experts together across disciplines and sectors, in order to identify and prioritize research agendas that align incentives and outcomes with multiple parallel missions. In 2016 she co-founded Helium, LLC, a consultancy and podcast company, to broaden opportunities for integrating and elevating researchers and their great ideas. 

Patricia Jones, Lead, Common Metrics Initiative, Program Director, Division of Clinical Innovation, National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences, National Institutes of Health

Scott Leischow, Professor of Population Health, Director, Translational Teams, College of Health Solutions, Arizona State University

Scott J. Leischow, Ph.D. joined Arizona State University in June, 2017, and is Professor and Director of Translational Science.  Prior to that, Dr. Leischow held academic positions at the Mayo Clinic and the University of Arizona, and served as Chief of the Tobacco Control Research Branch at the National Cancer Institute and Senior Advisor for Tobacco Policy in the US Department of Health and Human Services.   Dr. Leischow completed his doctorate in Health Education from the University of Maryland, and a postdoctoral fellowship in Behavioral Pharmacology from Johns Hopkins University.  Dr. Leischow has received several awards, including the NIH Director’s Award. Most of Dr. Leischow’s research and publications focus on tobacco treatment, tobacco control policy, and systems and network approaches to public health.  Dr. Leischow is past President of the Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco (SRNT), and is Editor-in-Chief of the journal Tobacco Regulatory Science.

Anne Heberger Marino, Senior Program Officer, Keck Futures Initiative, National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine

Wayne T. McCormack, Distinguished Teaching Scholar & Professor, Dept. of Pathology, Immunology and Laboratory Medicine, College of Medicine, University of Florida

Dr. McCormack earned a BS degree in Biology at Creighton University and MS & PhD degrees in Biological Science at Florida State University.  After postdoctoral training in immunogenetics at the University of Michigan, he joined the faculty of the department of Pathology, Immunology & Laboratory Medicine at the University of Florida College of Medicine in 1991.  Dr. McCormack has been involved in every facet of graduate program planning, curriculum development, recruiting & admissions, and administration, and served as the Associate Dean for Graduate Education and biomedical sciences PhD program director for ten year.  He currently serves as the director of Clinical & Translational Science doctoral programs at the UF Clinical & Translational Science Institute, director of the UF Health Office of Biomedical Research Career Development, and associate director of the MD-PhD program.  Dr. McCormack is a past chair of the AAMC Graduate research, Education and Training (GREAT) Group (2011-12), and a past president of the Team-Based Learning Collaborative (2012-15).  He is actively involved in the national CTSA Consortium as a member of the Workforce Development Domain Task Force and TL1 Directors Group.  Dr. McCormack directs and teaches in the graduate-level courses in immunology and professional development (e.g., RCR, teaching skills, team science).  He has been using Team-Based Learning in his teaching for over twelve years.  Dr. McCormack’s research efforts are focused on education-related projects, including team-based learning, responsible conduct of research, team science, career outcomes, and competency-based assessment of science PhD training.  Recent publications have addressed measures of career outcomes and the status of current training for team science at CTSA institutions, use of TBL in interprofessional health science education, and competency-based assessment for science PhD training.

Betsy Rolland, Assistant Director of Population Sciences, Carbone Cancer Center, University of Wisconsin-Madison

Betsy Rolland, PhD MLIS MPH, is the Director of Research Development and Team Science at the Carbone Cancer Center and the Director of Team Science at the Institute for Clinical and Translational Research at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She also serves as PI of the Cancer Center Cessation Initiative (C3I) Coordinating Center. In these roles, Dr. Rolland integrates research development and team science, helping researchers across the UW build dynamic collaborative, multi-disciplinary teams that conduct high-impact science. She holds a PhD in Human Centered Design & Engineering, a Master of Library & Information Science, and a Master of Public Health.

Amanda Vogel, Global Health Evaluation Specialist, Leidos Biomedical Research, Inc.