Francine Berman

(She/Her)
  • Director of Public Interest Technology and Stuart Rice Honorary Research Professor, UMass Amherst

Francine Berman is Director of Public Interest Technology and Stuart Rice Honorary Research Professor in the Manning College of Information and Computer Sciences at UMass Amherst, and author of "Better Tech: Putting People First in Cyberspace" (https://www.franberman.com). She is Faculty Associate at the Berkman Klein Center for Internet and Society at Harvard University (BKC) and founder and co-Chair of the BKC Public Interest Technology Working Group.

Berman is a data scientist, public interest technologist and the first woman to run an NSF Supercomputer Center (the San Diego Supercomputer Center). She is co-founder of the international Research Data Alliance, a community-driven organization that builds data infrastructure to support data sharing and data-driven research. Berman's scholarly work focuses on data cyberinfrastructure and the social impacts of technology.

Berman was appointed by President Obama to the citizen Council for the National Endowment for the Humanities, is an elected member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the National Academy of Public Administration, and a member of the Board of Trustees of the Sloan Foundation. She has been awarded the IEEE-CS/ACM Ken Kennedy Award, the Paul Evans Peter Award, and most recently, NCWIT's Pioneer in Tech award.

Experience

  • 2018–present
    Faculty Associate, Berkman Klein Center for Internet and Society, Harvard University
  • 2021–present
    Director of Public Interest Technology and Stuart Rice Research Professor, UMass Amherst
  • 2009–2021
    Hamilton Distinguished Professor of Computer Science, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
  • 2019–2020
    Katherine Hampson Bessell Fellow, Radcliffe Institute, Harvard University
  • 2009–2012
    Vice President for Research, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
  • 2001–2009
    Director, San Diego Supercomputer Center
  • 2003–2009
    Endowed Chair in High Performance Computing, Jacobs School of Engineering, UCSD
  • 1983–2009
    Asst., Assoc., Full Professor, Department of Computer Science, UCSD

Education

  • 1979 
    University of Washington, Ph.D in Mathematics

Professional Memberships

  • Fellow, ACM
  • Fellow, IEEE
  • Fellow, AAAS
  • Elected member, American Academy of Arts and Sciences
  • Fellow, National Academy of Public Administration

Honours

2009 recipient of the ACM/IEEE-CS Ken Kennedy Award, 2015 appointment to the National Council on the Humanities, 2019 election to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, 2020 recipient of the Paul Evan Peters Award, 2020 Election as Fellow in the National Academy of Public Administration, 2024 NCWIT Pioneer in Tech Award, one of HPCWire's 35 HPC Legends (2024), 2026 ADVANCE Peer Mentor Award

Contact Francine for

  • General
  • Media request
  • Speaking request
  • Consulting / Advising