Kathie Olsen, Ph.D.

In her position as Chief Scientist she serves as the Administrator's senior scientific advisory and principal interface with the national and international scientific community. Dr. Olsen is responsible for ensuring the NASA programs are universally regarded as scientifically and technologically valid and is the principal advisor to the Administrator on the budget content of NASA's science programs.

Prior to joining NASA on May 24, 1999, Dr. Olsen served as the Senior Staff Associate for the Science and Technology Centers in the National Science Foundation's (NSF) Office of Integrative Activities. From February 1996 until November 1997, she served as a Brookings Institute Legislative Fellow and then as a NSF detailee in the Office of Senator Conrad Burns of Montana. Senator Burns' committees included Appropriations and Commerce, Science, and Transportations. Prior to going to Capitol Hill, she served for two years as the Acting Deputy Director for the Division of Integrative Biology and Neuroscience at the NSF where she has worked and held numerous other science-related positions dating back to 1984.

Dr. Olsen received her B.S. with honors from Chatham College, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, majoring in both Biology and Psychology in 1974 and was elected to Phi Beta Kappa. She earned her Ph.D. from the Department of Psychobiology at the University of California, Irvine in 1979. After spending one year as a Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of Neuroscience at Children's Hospital of Harvard Medical School, Boston, Dr. Olsen moved to the State University of New York at Stony Brook where she was a Research Scientist at Long Island Research Institute and as Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Science at the Medical School until 1988. Her research on the neural and genetic mechanisms underlying the development and expression of behavior was supported by grants from the National Institutes of Health. Dr. Olsen has published numerous scientific articles, book chapters, and co-edited a book entitled The Development of Sex Differences and Similarities in Behavior. Among Dr. Olsen's many awards, are The International Behavioral Neuroscience Society's award, and The Society for Behavioral Neuroendocrinology Award in recognition of outstanding contributions for research and education in the field.

Excerpts from Dr. Olsen's keynote address at Women in Aviation and interviews from our Young Women's Advisory Council representatives will be added when they return from the convention.