Title Project Director Company American Association for the Advancement of Science Bio Dr. Annette Olson, Project Director, American Association for the Advancement of Science. Dr. Olson helps universities, research consortia, and others strategize about research capacity building. She has led 16 AAAS INBRE/EPSCoR planning and assessment expert panels in eight states, as well as panels for other research programs nationally and internationally. She also has provided guidance on the design and execution of 13 small to large-scale proposal review and international entrepreneurial competitions. Dr. Olson received her Ph.D. in Biology from the University of Miami, Florida, on the behavioral ecology of a mongoose in western Africa. During and after finalizing her doctorate, she served as a scientific liaison and expert to the Smithsonian Institution, advising on five exhibits that still serve over four million users annually. While maintaining a research appointment at the Smithsonian in mammalian behavior, Dr. Olson started a position as Biodiversity Scientist at the U.S. Geological Survey, where she provided strategic leadership for several global ecoinformatic systems projects and co-wrote the international scientific media standard Audubon Core. In addition, Dr. Olson served as an advisor on four ecoinformatics projects for the National Technical Information Service, the Environmental Protection Agency, the Encyclopedia of Life, and the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration before joining AAAS.