This is the html version of the file http://www.dp.doe.gov/docs/NNSAAdvisoryCommittee-Bios.pdf.
G o o g l e automatically generates html versions of documents as we crawl the web.
To link to or bookmark this page, use the following url: http://www.google.com/search?q=cache:WObXrlPz3rsJ:www.dp.doe.gov/docs/NNSAAdvisoryCommittee-Bios.pdf+site:www.dp.doe.gov+%22advisory+committee%22&hl=en&ie=UTF-8

Google is not affiliated with the authors of this page nor responsible for its content.
These search terms have been highlighted:  advisory  committee 
Page 1
National Nuclear Security Administration Advisory Committee
Member Biographies
Admiral Henry G. Chiles, Jr. (USN, Retired) serves as Chairman of the 15-member NNSA
Advisory Committee. Admiral Chiles’ long and distinguished career in the United States Navy
spans service as Commander, USS Gurnard (1976-1980), to Commander in Chief, U.S. Strategic
Command. Chiles has served as Special Assistant to the Director of the Naval Nuclear Propulsion
Program, U.S. Department of Energy, where he conducted fleet liaison and directed the Prospective
Commanding Officer’s Coarse (1980-1983); Commander of the Naval Training Center in San
Diego (1985-1986) and then Director, Strategic Submarine Division and Deputy Assistant Chief of
Naval Operations (Undersea Warfare); Commander, Submarine Force, U.S. Atlantic Fleet; and
Commander, Submarines Allied Command Atlantic (1990). In September 1993, Admiral Chiles
became Deputy Commander, United States Strategic Command. He relieved as Commander in
Chief, United States Strategic Command on February 14, 1994 with responsibility for all U.S. Air
Force and Navy Strategic nuclear forces supporting the national security objective of deterrence.
He retired in 1996, serves on a variety of boards, and is the Distinguished Professor of Leadership
at the U.S. Naval Academy. Admiral Chiles graduated from the United States Naval Academy and
holds a M.A. from Oxford University.
Dr. Victor E. Alessi is a highly regarded expert in national security, arms control and nuclear
nonproliferatio n. Since October 1999, Dr. Alessi has served as President and CEO of the United
States Industry Coalition. Dr. Alessi has been the United States representative on the Governing
Board of the International Science and Technology Center in Moscow since its founding in 1992.
For three years prior to his USIC appointment, Dr. Alessi was President of DynMeridian, a
subsidiary of DynCorp, a company specializing in arms control, nonproliferation, and international
security affairs. He spent one year as Executive Assistant to the Director at the U.S. Arms Control
and Disarmament Agency. Earlier, Dr. Alessi served as Director of the Office of Arms Control and
Nonproliferation in the Department of Energy where he oversaw all arms control and
nonproliferation activities. He supervised an R&D program involving hundreds of scientists and
engineers at national laboratories. Before joining DoE in 1987, he was the Chief of the Strategic
Affairs Division of ACDA. Dr. Alessi is a graduate of Fordham University, where he also earned
a licentiate in Philosophy (Ph.L.). He received M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in nuclear physics from
Georgetown University.
Dr. Steven Chu is the Theodore and Frances Geballe Professor of Physics and Applied Physics at
Stanford University. Dr. Chu’s research on the interplay of light and atoms earned him and fellow
researchers the 1997 Nobel Prize in physics. Prior to joining the Stanford faculty in 1987, Dr. Chu
was Head of Quantum Electronic Department at AT&T Bell Laboratories (1983-87). He is a
member of many professional societies, including the American Physical Society, the National
Academy of Sciences, and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. In addition to the Nobel
Prize, Dr. Chu has received many professional awards and fellowships, among them a Guggenhein
fellowship (1996), the Humboldt Senior Scientist Award (1995), and was co-winner of the King
Faisal International Prize for Science (1993). Dr. Chu earned his A.B. and B.S. from the
University of Rochester and his Ph.D. from the University of California at Berkeley.
Page 2
Charles B. Curtis is the President and Chief Operating Officer of the Nuclear Threat Initiative at
the Center for Strategic and International Studies. Previously, Mr. Curtis served as the Executive
Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of the United Nations Foundation. Before joining
UNF, Mr. Curtis was a partner in Hogan & Hartson, a Washington based law firm with fifteen
domestic and international offices. Mr. Curtis served as Under Secretary and, later, Deputy
Secretary of Energy from February 1994 to May 1997. He was the chief operating officer of the
Department and, among other duties, had direct programmatic responsibility for all Department
science, technology and national security programs. Mr. Curtis was the Department’s designated
member of the Nuclear Weapons Council throughout his tenure.Mr. Curtis has B.S. and B.A.
degrees from the University of Massachusetts - Amherst and a J.D. (with honors) from the Boston
University Law School where he served as an editor of the Law Review.
Dr. Sidney Drell is a physicist and arms control specialist. Since 1960 he has been a leader in
providing essential technical advice to the Government on national security issues. A faculty member
of Stanford University since 1956, he is currently Professor of Theoretical Physics (Emeritus) at the
Stanford Linear Accelerator Center, (of which he was also Deputy Director until retiring in 1998), and
a Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford. As a government advisor, Dr. Drell has served
as a member of the President’s Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board since 1993 and is active as a
member of the group of scientific advisors called JASON. He belongs to the following professional
and honorary societies: Fellow and former-President of the American Physical Society, National
Academy of Sciences, American Academy of Arts and Sciences, American Philosophical Society, the
Academia Europea, and the Council on Foreign Relations. His most recent awards in the year 2000
include the Enrico Fermi Award, the government’s oldest award for science and technology, presented
by the President and the Secretary of Energy; the National Intelligence Distinguished Service Medal,
the highest award bestowed by the U.S. Intelligence Community, presented by the Director of Central
Intelligence; and designation by the National Reconnaissance Office as one of 10 scientists who are
“Founders of national reconnaissance as a space discipline.”
Dr. John S. Foster, Jr., currently serves as Chairman of the Panel to Assess the Reliability, Safety,
and Security of the United States Nuclear Stockpile. He is also Partner and Chairman of the Board
of Technology Strategies and Alliances, and Chairman of Pilkington Aerospace. Previously, Dr.
Foster was Director of the Office of Defense Research and Engineering (DDR&E) for the
Department of Defense (1965-1973), served on the President’s Foreign Intelligence Advisory
Board (1973-1990), and was Chairman of the Defense Science Board (1990-1993), on which he
still serves. Prior to his appointment to DDR&E, Dr. Foster was Director of the Lawrence
Livermore National Laboratory. In 1988, he retired from TRW, Inc. as Vice President of Science
and Technology, and continues as a consultant. Dr. Foster serves as a member of the Board of
JAYMARK and Arete Associates, and his numerous awards include the Founders Award, the
James Forrestal and Enrico Fermi Awards, and the Department of Defense Distinguished Public
Service Medal. Dr. Foster received his B.S. from McGill University in Montreal and his PhD in
physics from the University of California, Berkeley.
The Honorable Dr. Shirley Ann Jackson, a theoretical physicist, became the 18th president of
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute on July 1, 1999. Dr. Jackson’s career has encompassed senior
positions in government, industry, and academe. In 1995, President Clinton appointed Dr. Jackson
Chairman of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, which she served from 1995-1999. From
Page 3
1991 to 1995, Dr. Jackson was professor of physics at Rutgers University. She concurrently served
as a consultant in semiconductor theory to AT&T Bell Laboratories. Dr. Jackson has served on a
U.S. Department of Energy Task Force on the future of its multipurpose National Laboratories, and
on a number of committees of the National Research Council of the National Academy of Sciences.
She is the first African-American woman to receive a doctorate from M.I.T. -- in any subject – and
is one of the first two African-American women to receive a doctorate in physics in the U.S. She is
a member of a number of professional organizations, including the American Academy of Arts
Sciences and the American Physical Society, and holds 13 honorary doctoral degrees. Dr. Jackson
holds a Ph.D. in theoretical physics from M.I.T. and an S.B. in physics from M.I.T.
Dr. Raymond Jeanloz is a member of the U.C. Berkeley faculty, where he serves as both a
professor in the Departments of Earth and Planetary Science and of Astronomy, and Executive
Director of U.C. Berkeley’s Miller Institute for Basic Research in Science. His research focuses on
the properties of materials at high pressures, and on the nature and evolution of planetary interiors.
In addition to research and teaching, Dr. Jeanloz lends his expertise to a variety of organizations,
including the National Academies’ National Research Council Board on Earth Sciences and
Resources (Chairman), the Department of Energy’s Geosciences Advisory Council, and NASA’s
Solid-Earth and Natural Hazards Steering Committee. Dr. Jeanloz is also a member of the
University of California’s National Security Panel, which provides University oversight for the
national and global security programs at the Lawrence Livermore and Los Alamos National
Laboratories. Dr. Jeanloz has also served as a senior advisor on issues related to the U. S. nuclear-
weapons stockpile and the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty. He has co-authored over 250
publications and received many awards, including a MacArthur Prize Fellowship and Fellowship in
the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He received his Ph.D. from the California Institute of
Technology.
Dr. Kerri-Ann Jones has significant experience in science and technology policy and
programming. She is currently the Director for the Experimental Program to Stimulate
Competitive Research (EPSCoR) for the state of Maine. Dr. Jones spent fifteen years working with
the federal government in positions in Washington, DC and overseas. She has held senior policy
positions in the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP), the U.S. Agency
for International Development (USAID), the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the National
Science Foundation (NSF). Prior to U.S. Government service, Dr. Jones worked as an independent
consultant in international development and science and technology. She served for a year in New
Delhi, India as the Biotechnology Advisor to the USAID mission and in 1985, was the recipient of
an American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAS), Science, Engineering and
Diplomacy Fellowship. Her principal areas of expertise are biotechnology, health, bioterrorism,
international cooperation, and technology commercialization. Dr. Jones obtained her Ph.D. from
the Department of Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry at Yale University and holds a
bachelor's degree in chemistry from Barnard College, Columbia University.
Dr. Paul Messina is Assistant Vice President for Scientific Computing at the California Institute of
Technology (Caltech), where he also holds the positions of Faculty Associate in Scientific
Computing and Director of Caltech's Center for Advanced Computing Research. During a leave
from Caltech January 1999-December 2000, he was Director of the Office of Advanced Simulation
and Computing for Defense Programs in the National Nuclear Security Administration. At NNSA,
Page 4
Dr. Messina managed the Accelerated Strategic Computing Initiative, the world’s largest scientific
computing program. He holds the position of Chief Architect for the National Partnership for
Advanced Computational Infrastructure. His recent interests focus on advanced computer
architectures, especially their application to large-scale computations in science and engineering.
He has also been active in high-speed networks, computer performance evaluation, and Petaflops
computing issues. Dr. Messina received his PhD in mathematics and his MS in applied
mathematics, both from the University of Cincinnati, and his BA in mathematics from the College
of Wooster.
Dr. James R. Schlesinger (appointment pending) currently divides his time between the Center
for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), where he serves as counselor, and the investment
banking firm of Lehman Brothers, where he serves as senior advisor. His distinguished career in
government includes service as the first Secretary of Energy (1977-1979), Secretary of Defense
(1973-1975), Director of Central Intelligence (1973), and Chairman of the Atomic Energy
Commission. Dr. Schlesinger served on a variety of blue ribbon task forces and commissions,
including President’s Blue Ribbon Task Group on Nuclear Weapons Program Management. He
has been awarded nine honorary doctorates and received his B.A. (summa cum laude), M.S. and
doctorate degrees from Harvard.
Dr. Jeremiah Sullivan has pursued a scientific career that has successfully integrated the three
distinct areas of research, teaching in its broadest sense, and government service. He spent his
postdoctoral years as a research associate in the theoretical physics group at the Stanford Linear
Accelerator Center (SLAC), then moved to the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champagne, where
he has served as full professor since 1973. Over the past twenty years, Dr. Sullivan has made wide-
ranging, lasting contributions to arms control and international security, including important
detailed calculations of shock wave profiles from underground tests, comprehensive nuclear test
ban issues, science-based stockpile stewardship, technology and policy of ballistic missile defenses,
and science and public policy. Dr. Sullivan has leant his expertise to a number of important studies
and reviews that have played key roles in the evolution of U.S. defense policy; most recently, he
served as the chairman of the DOE Advisory Committee on Nonproliferation and National
Security. Dr. Sullivan received his B.S. in physics from Carnegie Institute of Technology and his
Ph.D. in physics from Princeton University.
General Larry D. Welch, (USAF, Retired) is currently the President and Chief Executive Officer
of The Institute for Defense Analyses (IDA) in Washington D.C. -- a federally chartered research
center providing operations and technical analysis, and management and information systems
design and development for the Department of Defense and other U.S. government agencies.
Before assuming his current position, he served for 39 years in U.S. military forces from private in
the U.S. Army National Guard to Chief of Staff, U.S. Air Force. In addition to his IDA duties, he
serves on a number of boards, panels and commissions that serve the national security
establishment.
Christopher A. Williams is currently a partner at Johnston & Associates. Previously, he served as
the Acting Under Secretary of Defense for Policy, U.S. Department of Defense and on the
Department of Defense Transition Team of President-elect George W. Bush. During the transition
period, he also served as Special Assistant to the Secretary of Defense. Williams’s extensive
Page 5
legislative branch experience includes service as Advisor to Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott on
national security, defense, foreign policy, and intelligence issues (1999-2001), Deputy Staff
Director and Budget Director, Senate Select Committee on Intelligence (1997-1999), and
Professional Staff Member, House Armed Services Committee (1991-1997). Mr. Williams
received his BA in Political Science from the University of California at Los Angeles, and his MA
in Government (certificate in National Security Studies) from Georgetown University.
Dr. Ellen Williams began her career at the University of Maryland as a post-doctoral fellow in
Physics. She has risen through the ranks to become is a Distinguished University Professor of
Physics, and her research is in surface physics. Professor Williams founded the University's
National Science Foundation-supported Materials Research Science and Engineering Center, and
has served as its director since 1996. She has been a member of the JASON group since 1991, and
has worked on many studies involving Stockpile Stewardship. She is also a member of the
National Security Panel of the University of California President's Council on the National
Laboratories and a fellow of the American Physical and American Vacuum Societies. Professor
Williams’ work as garnered numerous distinctions, including the David Adler Lectureship Award
of the American Physical Society (2001). She received her undergraduate degree from Michigan
State University, and her PhD in Chemistry from Caltech in 1981.