Introductions and Welcome
To begin the day, leadership from Oak Ridge Associated Universities (ORAU) and George Mason University's Office of Research Innovation and Economic Impact (ORIEI) and Institute for Immigration Research (IIR) provided introductions and welcomed participants.
Speaker Bios
Olivia M. Blackmon is the Director for Oak Ridge Associated Universities STEM Accelerator (OSA), where she directs and manages Public-Private-Partnership consortiums to build Research and Development capacity in various sectors to include Advanced Manufacturing, Critical Infrastructure (e.g. Energy and Water), Nuclear Science and Technology, and Space Manufacturing. Dr. Blackmon has over 20 years of professional experience designing regional innovation hubs and economic development, mobilizing a diverse network of public-private partners, and creating new innovative ecosystems. Her work spans across four-continents where she has lead USAID and State efforts in developing countries to build education, training and workforce capacity efforts. Before coming to ORAU, she directed a $30 million United States Agency of International Development (USAID) program for DAI, Inc., to enable the digital transformation of the Western Balkans, Black Sea Region, and South Caucasus. Through her work with organizations such as MITRE, George Mason University, George Washington University, DevTech and Thurgood Marshall College Fund, she built and managed more than $130 million in programs with multiple federal agencies such as the Department of Defense, National Science Foundation, USAID, Health and Human Services, Department of Health Services and National Institute of Standards and Technology.
Dr. Blackmon speaks five languages and earned a doctoral degree from George Mason University in Sociology with a concentration in Education, and Mixed Methods in 2015. She has served as both a Fulbright Scholar and a Fellow at Harvard University in Education.
Rebekah Hersch currently serves as the Associate Vice President for Research Innovation in the Office of Research Innovation and Economic Impact (ORIEI) at George Mason University. In that capacity, Dr. Hersch provides leadership for the Research and Innovation Initiatives (RII) team which includes Mason’s three University Research Institutes (Institute for Biohealth Innovation, Institute for a Sustainable Earth, and Institute for Digital InnovAtion) and its five Transdisciplinary Centers. RII also includes the Research Development Services office and the Office of Research Computing. She works closely with ORIEI Cores and other administrative units across the university to develop and implement the strategic plan to foster and grow Mason’s research ecosystem. Dr. Hersch also served as a member of the leadership team for the Justice Community Opioid Innovation Network (JCOIN) Coordinating and Translation Center at Mason, part of the NIH HEAL Initiative. Dr. Hersch serves as Vice Chair of the ORAU Council of Sponsoring Institutions and is a member of the ORAU Board of Director.
Dr. Hersch received her BA in Psychology from the University of Virginia, her MA in Clinical Psychology from Clark University, and her Ph.D. in Applied Social Psychology from The George Washington University.
James “Jim” Witte is a Professor in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology and Director of the Institute for Immigration Research (IIR). Dr. Witte has written numerous articles that have appeared in journals such as The European Sociological Review, Population and Development Review, The Russell Sage Foundation Journal, and Sociological Methods and Research. He has also published three books, Labor Force Integration and Marital Choice, the Internet and Social Inequality and The Normal Bar. Major research projects in addition to work with the IIR includes the National Science Foundation funded Digital Archive Project, the University Partnership with the University of Karachi funded by the U.S. State Department, and the AmeriCorps funded project, Immigrants, Athletes and Civic Engagement. The latter collects data on attitudes towards foreign-born individuals in seven U.S. metro areas and how those are positively influenced through interaction with the foreign born, including through sports participation and viewership.
Witte, who earned his Ph.D. from Harvard University in sociology, a master’s degree in Public Administration and a B.A. in government and sociology from Beloit College, has been a professor at Clemson University and Northwestern University. He was a postdoctoral fellow at the Carolina Population Center and a lecturer in sociology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.