Experts in Data, Policy, and Discovery

Eva is a physicist by training and a materials scientist whose work has increasingly focused on open science and research data. She is an Adjunct Professor in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at the University of Maryland and previously served as a Program Director in the Division of Materials Research at the National Science Foundation (NSF), where she oversaw large, data-intensive research programs and championed the integration of rigorous data practices into materials research. Her experience with initiatives such as the Materials Genome Initiative has given her a front-row view of both the promise and the current shortcomings of “data-driven” science, particularly the lack of interoperable, reusable data despite substantial federal investments. In collaboration with the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), she has been advancing the Research Data Framework (RDaF) as a practical tool to help agencies, universities, and research groups operationalize FAIR and open data. Eva has written about these issues in venues such as Tech Policy Press, responded to federal Requests for Information, and contributed a white paper that has attracted interest from the Department of Energy’s Genesis mission. She has engaged with National Academies activities and other multi-stakeholder efforts as an advocate for open, well-governed research data ecosystems that support both AI and scientific discovery, and is increasingly active at the interface of science, policy, and research infrastructure reform.

Robert recently retired from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), where he led the development of NIST’s public data repository, managed the Standard Reference Data Collection, and led the Research Data Framework (RDaF) project. He was also active in developing standards for data discovery and interoperability in the international metrology community. Prior to NIST he was the executive director of the Virtual Astronomical Observatory, an effort co-funded by the National Science Foundation and NASA, to build a distributed but federated system for data management in astronomy. This project was coordinated with global partners in the International Virtual Observatory Alliance. At the Space Telescope Science Institute he co-led the development of the Hubble Data Archive and oversaw the software development for calibration and analysis of Hubble Space Telescope data. He also served for several years as the chief information officer. He has served on numerous panels, including under the National Academy of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, as an expert on data management and an advocate for open science and open data, and continues as a member of the FAIR Digital Objects Forum steering committee. He represented NIST on the Office of Science and Technology Policy, National Science and Technology Council Subcommittee on Open Science, a group that brought together more than twenty federal agencies to improve public data access.