Washington Academy of Sciences
2024 – 2025 term
| President Ram Sriram  |
Ram D. Sriram is chief of the Software and Systems Division, Information Technology Laboratory, at the National Institute of Standards and Technology. Before joining the Software and Systems Division, Sriram was the leader of the Design and Process group in the Manufacturing Systems Integration Division, Manufacturing Engineering Laboratory, where he conducted research on standards for interoperability of computer-aided design systems. Prior to joining NIST, he was on the engineering faculty at MIT and was instrumental in setting up the Intelligent Engineering Systems Laboratory. Sriram has co-authored or authored nearly 300 publications, including several books and videos (several are posted on this website). Sriram was a founding co-editor of the International Journal for AI in Engineering. Sriram has received numerous career awards and is a Fellow of AAIA, AIBME, ASME, AAAS, IEEE, INCOSE, SMA, and Washington Academy of Sciences. He is a Distinguished Member (life) of ACM and Senior Member (life) AAAI. Sriram has a B.Tech. from IIT, Madras, India, and an M.S. and a Ph.D. from Carnegie Mellon University. |
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David Torain’s research area is Optimization and Partial Differential Equations and currently studying the second derivative of Torain’s Equations, where he studies the use of parametric nonlinear differential equations as a mathematical model. Dr. Torain was elected in 2019 to American Association for the Advancement of Science: Section Y on General Interest in Science and Engineering Fellow: “For distinguished contributions to the field of Applied Mathematics, particularly for the discovery of Torain’s Equations that model the harvesting of species under abnormal conditions. |
Paul Arveson  |
Paul Arveson’s first career was as a physicist in the Navy, where he served as a researcher leading projects in acoustics and oceanography. He has a BS in Physics and an MS in Computer Systems Management. He has served as a website developer for NASDAQ and as a technology architect the Department of Energy’s Office of Science. He is co-founder of the Balanced Scorecard Institute, a strategic consulting firm, and helped to create the first professional certifications for the Association for Strategic Planning. Recently he served as a Senior Associate in the Dialogue on Science, Ethics and Religion Program at the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He is a Fellow of the Washington Academy of Sciences. |
| Treasurer Ken Baclawski  |
Kenneth Baclawski is Associate Professor Emeritus at the College of Computer and Information Science, Northeastern University. Professor Baclawski does research in data semantics, formal methods for software engineering and software modeling, data mining in biology and medicine, semantic collaboration tools, situation awareness, information fusion, self-aware and self-adaptive systems, and wireless communication. He is the holder of over 12 patents and has authored over 300 professional articles as well as several books and research monographs. He has served on numerous peer review panels for the NSF, the NIH, and the ACM and has served on many program committees of research conferences. He is a member of the IEEE, ACM, IAOA, and is the chair of the Board of Trustees of the Ontolog Forum. Dr. Baclawski became the Editor of the Journal of the Washington Academy of Sciences in 2021. |
Mala Ramaiah  |
Mala Ramaiah is a subject matter expert in health information technology. Her roles include that of Research Scientist at the National Institute of Standards and Technology and Manager at the American College of Physicians developing guidance, managing applications, and handling clinical data in healthcare. She has a Doctorate in Medicine and a Masters degree in Health Care Management. |
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Vice President, Administrative Affairs
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Anne Kornahrens is the Director of Community for the Fannie and John Hertz Foundation and oversees the strategic engagement and mobilization of more than 1,200 Hertz Fellows. She was previously at the American Physical Society overseeing projects pursuing gender equity in physics and other physics education projects. Before that, she served as a AAAS Science & Technology Policy Fellow at the National Science Foundation in the Office of the Assistant Director for Mathematical & Physical Sciences. She enjoys rock climbing, biking on the Mt. Vernon trail, and providing long-term foster care for dogs. |
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Dr Mei Sun is the Neurosensory Portfolio Manager at US Army Medical Research and Development Command. She manages Science & Technology funding for neurosensory research projects. Prior to this position, Dr. Mei Sun served as Program Manager to lead Congressional Directed Medical Research Program’s Other Transaction Authority program to support the Science &Technology investment. She facilitated all communication and enable resources among government agencies and offices in all related process including solicitation announcement, proposal review, and post-award management for OTA contracts. Dr. Sun was awarded her PhD in Biology by the University of California, San Diego in 2007 and also achieved her MBA degree in the same year. |
Vijay Kowtha  |
Vijay Kowtha has volunteered as a judge for the Junior Academy of WAS since 2006 and has worked to mentor students in the Washington DC area from K to undergraduate for over 30 years. He had a career as an Electronics Engineer at the US Naval Research Laboratory, and after retiring in 2019 he founded MASER (Mentors Advancing STEM Education and Research), a nonprofit organization to mentor students. He is a member of IEEE, Rotary International, and the DC Council of Engineering and Architectural Societies. He was recently given the Sigma Xi Fellow award for two decades of service, and he is a Fellow of the Washington Academy of Sciences. |
At-Large Board Members
| Judy Staveley (2022-2025)  |
Judy Staveley is a Pharma subject matter expert, scientist, researcher, and past President of the Washington Academy of Sciences. Dr. Staveley has been a science educator and a mentor for over 18 years. She earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of Alaska Anchorage, has a graduate degree in Medical Forensics DNA from the University of Florida School of Pharmacy, a Master of Science in Biology Infectious Diseases from the University of St. Joseph’s, studied Psychology at the Ph.D. level at Walden University, a degree in Education Specialist Educational Leadership, Ed.D. in Education with a cognate in Educational Leadership, and a Graduate Certificate in Global Public Health from Liberty University. Staveley’s mentoring and educational experience has provided the opportunity to make contributions nationally, state-wide, and locally on enhancing STEM education and retaining students in STEM academics. Judy is motivated and passionate about STEM education. In addition, she has a strong record of accomplishments. In 2020 and 2021 Staveley was presented with a presidential award on behalf of Blue Star Families and the White House. She has been nominated four times for the Presidential Awards for Excellence in Science, Mathematics, and Engineering Mentoring award. |
| Guru Prasadh Venkataramani (2024-2026)  |
Guru Prasadh Venkataramani is a Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at The George Washington University. He received his PhD from Georgia Institute of Technology. His research area is computer architecture and security, where he has published several articles in flagship conferences and journals. Dr. Venkataramani is a recipient of NSF CAREER award, ORAU Ralph E. Powe Junior Faculty Enhancement Award, GWU’s Hegarty Award for Faculty Innovation, and several best paper awards in IEEE/ACM conferences. He co-founded IEEE International Symposium on Secure and Private Execution Environment Design (SEED). He served as a General Chair for IEEE International Symposium on High Performance Computer Architecture (HPCA). He also organized the NSF Workshop on side and covert channels in computing systems. Dr. Venkataramani has served as a program chair for multiple IEEE conferences, including IEEE ICCD and IEEE SEED. He is a Fellow of EAI and a senior member of IEEE and ACM. |
| Matthew Humbard (2024-2027)  |
Matthew Humbard is the director of the Testing and Diagnostics Domain in the Center for Industrial Based Management and Supply Chain at the Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response at the Dept. of Health and Human Services. Matt has overseen the procurement and distribution of almost two billion medical devices. Previously, Matt worked in the COVID-19 response managing several aspects of the diagnostic pandemic response including public school testing, external validation of tests with the national laboratories, and investing billions of dollars in supply chain resilience. Matt received a Ph.D. in Microbiology and Cell Science from the University of Florida in 2009. He has published more than 20 papers in microbiology and molecular biology. He has conducted cancer research at the National Cancer Institute and worked on consumer safety and manufacturing quality with the FDA on diagnostic devices. Matt has received the Distinguished Service Medal from DHHS, Pledge to Excellence Award from ASPR, Superior Contribution Award from ASPR, FDA’s Commissioner’s Special Citation, and was part of the US delegation to the 57th Lindau Nobel Laureate Meeting. |
| Al Jones (2024-2027)  |
Dr. Albert Jones has spent most of his career working at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) previously, National Bureau of Standards (NBS). Here, he has held various positions at Systems Integration Division (SID) and Automated Manufacturing Research Facility (AMRF), respectively. His most recent position has been that of the Scientific Advisor for the Systems Integration Division in the Engineering Laboratory. His past work had to do with applied Math, physical manufacturing, Additive Manufacturing and Digital Twins. He has participated as a US representative to ISO TC184 and a huge boost to US manufacturing. He retired from NIST in FY23. Dr. Jones has published more than two dozen journal papers and fifty conference papers. He has also trained many MS and PhD students. Dr. Jones has a PhD in Industrial Engineering from Purdue University (1978); MS in Mathematics from Purdue University (1972); BA in Mathematics from Loyola College (1970). |
| Claudia Cotca (2024-2027)  |
Prof. Claudia C Cotca, DDS, MPH, a 3 times graduate of University of Michigan, BSc Chemistry Degree & Cellular Molecular Biology ‘97, MPH Toxicology & Environmental Health Sciences ‘00, and Doctor of Dental Surgery ‘04, is an internationally recognized lecturer, USA Delegate expert with American Dental Association -Standards Committee Dental Products, Association for the Advancement of Medical Instrumentation AAMI, ANSI, ISO, IEC, and Association of Federal and Drug Officials in aesthetic oral systemic dentistry, therapeutics, biodigitization and toxicology. Dr. Cotca is Founder and CEO of Washington Institute for Dentistry & Laser. Dr. Cotca practices and consults globally in private and public health, oral systemic clinical protocol innovation, matched population co-morbidities, medical devices, global laser technology clinical applications, healthcare commodity technology transfer and advises healthcare venture capital and private equity sector actors. She holds various Fellowships, among them International College of Dentists, American Academy of Oral Medicine, and International College of Prosthodontics, is Program Chair with IADR and Editor of various journals. Dr. Cotca holds various Board positions, among Academic Chair of Artificial Intelligence and Data Analytics Mission Area of Advanced Technology Academic Research Center, and Co-Chair of Digital Twins WG, ISO. She is a healthcare analyst in global health sector intelligence, healthcare policy and is expert witness before USA Congress and White House. Dr. Cotca holds the rank of Professor of Public & Community Health at Liberty University, School of Health Sciences, Distinguished Professor at Saveetha Dental College & Hospitals, Chennai, India, and Researcher in the Dental Research Center Using Conventional and Alternative Technologies, Romania at Victor Babes University of Medicine & Pharmacy UMFT, Timisoara, Romania. |
| Sidhartha Bakaya (2024-2026)  |
Sidhartha Bakaya has an Engineering Degree from IIT Kharagpur in India, and a MS in Engineering Management from University College, University of MD. He has worked as IT consultant for over 30 years in USA and now retired. He has been an active STEM volunteer in Montgomery County for over 5 years and has also been active as a judge for various competitions in this entire region. He strongly feels that the WAS through its volunteers can do much more for the entire student community. He is willing to develop new initiatives to better motivate the students and help further improve their career paths. |
Immediate Past President
Mahesh Mani |
Mahesh Mani is a Technical Program Manager with the Office of Advanced Manufacturing, National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). His research interests include smart manufacturing, additive manufacturing, and sustainable manufacturing. He has authored or co-authored more than 60 scientific articles in journals, conference proceedings, technical reports, and book chapters. Mani received the 2022 ASME CIE Distinguished Service Award. Mani also received the ASME CIE Young Engineer Award in 2016 and ASME best paper awards in 2015 and 2016. He is a member of American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME), Washington Academy of Sciences (WAS) and American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). Mani received a Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from the National University of Singapore. |
| Journal Editor Ken Baclawski 
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Kenneth Baclawski is Associate Professor Emeritus at the College of Computer and Information Science, Northeastern University. Professor Baclawski does research in data semantics, formal methods for software engineering and software modeling, data mining in biology and medicine, semantic collaboration tools, situation awareness, information fusion, self-aware and self-adaptive systems, and wireless communication. He is the holder of over 12 patents and has authored over 300 professional articles as well as several books and research monographs. He has served on numerous peer review panels for the NSF, the NIH, and the ACM and has served on many program committees of research conferences. He is a member of the IEEE, ACM, IAOA, and is the chair of the Board of Trustees of the Ontolog Forum. Dr. Baclawski became the Editor of the Journal of the Washington Academy of Sciences in 2021. |
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Michael P. Cohen represents the Washington Statistical Society, the Philosophical Society of Washington (PSW-Science) and the National Association of Academies of Science to the Academy. Dr. Cohen is Principal Sampling Statistician at American Institutes for Research. He was President of the Washington Academy of Sciences in 2003-04. |
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Sethanne Howard represents the American Astronomical Society on the board of the Academy. She has a PhD in astrophysics. She worked as an oceanographer, meteorologist, astronomer, and Chief of the Nautical Almanac Office. She was the Program Manager for Extragalactic Astronomy and Cosmology at the National Science Foundation; now retired. Her avocation is the history of women in science and technology. Dr. Howard served for many years as the Editor of the Journal of the Washington Academy of Sciences. |
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Jorome “Jerry” Gibbon heads the Northern Virginia (NoVA) Section of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). He is a Fellow of the Washington Academy of Sciences and has been an active member of the Academy for many years. |
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Paul Cotae is representing the IEEE Washington DC Section. He is an Electrical and Computer Engineering Professor, Department Chair, PhD Program Director and Research Center Director in the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences at the University of the District of Columbia. He has published more than 170 Journal and Conference papers and six books. Since 2008 he has been a Research Fellow for the Office of Naval Research Faculty Research Program at Naval Research Laboratory in Washington DC. Dr. Cotae spent his sabbatical leave in 2013 at NRL. His expertise is in Machine Learning, Artificial Intelligence, Digital Communication, Statistics and Information Theory. Dr. Cotae is a Fellow of the Academy. |