Fran Berman

Chair, Research Data Alliance / U.S.
Edward G. Hamilton Distinguished Professor in Computer Science
Director, Center for a Digital Society, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute

Dr. Francine Berman is the Hamilton Distinguished Professor in Computer Science at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. She is a Fellow of the ACM and the IEEE. In 2009, 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, Berman was High Performance Computing Endowed Chair at UC San Diego. From 2001 to 2009, Berman served as Director of the San Diego Supercomputer Center. From 2007-2010, she served as co-Chair of the US-UK Blue Ribbon Task Force for Sustainable Digital Preservation and Access. From 2009 to 2012, Berman served as Vice President for Research at Rensselaer, stepping down in 2012 to lead U.S. participation in the Research Data Alliance. Berman has been 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.