Dr. Francine Berman is the Edward P. Hamilton Distinguished Professor in Computer Science at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. She is a Fellow of the Association of Computing Machinery (ACM) and a Fellow of the IEEE. In 2009, Dr. Berman was the inaugural recipient of the ACM/IEEE-CS Ken Kennedy Award for “influential leadership in the design, development, and deployment of national-scale cyberinfrastructure.”

Prior to joining Rensselaer, Dr. Berman was the High Performance Computing Endowed Chair in the Jacobs School of Engineering at UC San Diego. From 2001 to 2009, Dr. Berman served as Director of the San Diego Supercomputer Center (SDSC) where she led a staff of 250+ interdisciplinary scientists, engineers, and technologists. From 2009 to 2012, she served as Vice President for Research at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, stepping down in 2012 to lead U.S. participation in the Research Data Alliance (RDA), an emerging international organization created to accelerate global data sharing and exchange. Dr. Berman is co-Chair of the inaugural leadership Council of the RDA and Chair of RDA/United States.

Dr. Berman currently serves as co-Chair of the National Academies Board on Research Data and Information, as Vice-Chair of the Anita Borg Institute Board of Trustees, and is a member of the National Science Foundation CISE Advisory Board.   From 2007-2010, she served as co-Chair of the US-UK Blue Ribbon Task Force for Sustainable Digital Preservation and Access. For her accomplishments, leadership, and vision, Dr. Berman was recognized by the Library of Congress as a “Digital Preservation Pioneer”, as one of the top women in technology by BusinessWeek and Newsweek, and as one of the top technologists by IEEE Spectrum.