ASCEND
Assistance Strategiesfor Centers Development
ASCEND Team
ASCEND is led by PI Mel Ciment and Co-PI Rand Haley. Dr. Ciment provides management oversight and technical direction of the project and also serves as a Senior Associate. Mr. Haley directs ASCEND's activities on a day-to-day basis. ASCEND also draws centers and technical leadership and expertise from three additional Senior Associates: Drs. Ed Abbott, Phil Harriman, and Dan Edie. The ASCEND Core Team is familiar with the EPSCoR community, knowledgeable about centers programs at NSF and other federal agencies, and experienced with managing complex consulting and technical assistance projects.
Dr. Mel Ciment (PI & Senior Associate)
:: ASCEND expert: Computer and Information S&E; Cyberinfrastructure; Mathematics
Dr. Mel Ciment provides consulting services to academia, government, professional organizations and industry. Upon early retirement from NSF, he was awarded the Meritorious Service Award for his management of several of the most important federal information technologies (IT) research programs, including the interagency High-Performance Computing and Communications (HPCC) program. Dr. Ciment's NSF career included such posts as Deputy Assistant Director for Computer and Information Sciences and Engineering, Deputy Division Director for Advanced Scientific Computing and Program Director for Applied Mathematics. He has played a leadership role with several important reports and workshops, involving: HPCC, computational sciences and engineering, digital government, homeland security and cyber-security.
Additional biographical information: Personal website | CS Cubed Group, LLC
Contact information: mel @ ciment.com | 301-622-5984
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Mr. Rand Haley (Co-PI & Director)
Mr. Rand Haley has a rigorous, diverse scientific background spanning the physical and biomedical sciences coupled with training and experience in science and technology policy, university research management and strategy, project management, and competitive intelligence. He has extensive knowledge of university research centers and first-hand experience helping research teams to successfully compete for major science and engineering centers. Mr. Haley further combines experience with multiple federal research funding agencies (including NSF, NIH, DOE, and NASA) and understanding of federal-state research infrastructure development programs (such as EPSCoR, the Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research [at NSF and other agencies], and IDeA, NIH's Institutional Development Award program).
Additional biographical information: Research Terrain, LLC
Contact information: rand @ researchterrain.com | 770-993-5256
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Dr. Ed Abbott (Senior Associate)
:: ASCEND expert: Physical Sciences; Materials S&E; Nanotechnology
Dr. Ed Abbott is Professor Emeritus at the Montana State University Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry. His scientific research expertise is in organic chemistry and metal clusters as components in nanofabricated circuits. Dr. Abbott has consulted with academia for many years and served at NSF in Mathematical and Physical Sciences Directorate and as Director of the NSF EPSCoR program.
Additional biographical information: Montana State University webpage
Contact information: ed @ edabbott.com
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Dr. Phil Harriman (Senior Associate)
:: ASCEND expert: Biological Sciences; Environmental Sciences
Dr. Phil Harriman spent 24 years at the NSF before retiring to Northern California. He received a B.S. in Physics from Caltech and a Ph.D. in Biophysics from UC-Berkeley. Following postdoctoral work at the University of Cologne, Germany, The Pasteur Institute in Paris, and James Watson's Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory in New York, Dr. Harriman served on the faculties of the Duke University Medical School and the University of Missouri. At NSF, he served as Program Director for Genetics, Program Officer for the Life in Extreme Environments (LExEn) Program, Program Director for the Microbial Observatories Program, Acting Division Director for Molecular and Cellular Biosciences. Dr. Harriman has provided technical assistance to academia for several years.
Contact information: pjharrim @ sonic.net
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Dr. Dan Edie (Senior Associate)
:: ASCEND expert: Engineering
Dr. Dan Edie is Dow Chemical Professor Emeritus and Research Professor at the Clemson University Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering. His scientific research expertise is in high performance fibers, composite materials, polymer processing, and rheology. He served as Director of the Center for Advanced Engineering Fibers and Films, an NSF Engineering Research Center led by Clemson University. Dr. Edie has provided technical assistance to academia for several years.
Additional biographical information: Clemson University webpage
Contact information: dan.edie @ ces.clemson.edu
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