Earth Institute News Archive
posted 12/07/04
CODATA Elects Robert Chen, Deputy Director of CIESIN, As New Secretary General
Robert Chen
Robert S. Chen, Deputy Director and a Senior Research Scientist at the Center for International Earth Science Information Network (CIESIN), was elected to a four-year term as Secretary General of the Committee on Data for Science and Technology (CODATA) of the International Council for Science (ICSU) at its 24th General Assembly, which took place in Berlin, Germany on November 11-12.
“I'm very excited by the opportunity to work with CODATA's international leadership on critical issues related to scientific data such as open access, long-term preservation and stewardship, and interdisciplinary development and application of data across the natural, social, and biological sciences," said Chen.
As Secretary General, Chen will help oversee the efforts of CODATA's Secretariat, which is based at ICSU Headquarters in Paris, France. He will work closely with CODATA's President, Proessor. Shuichi Iwata of the University of Tokyo, and with other CODATA officers from Russia, India, and France.
Chen has served on the international CODATA Executive Board since 2002. Previously, he was a member of the U.S. National Committee for CODATA of the U.S. National Research Council, which is the U.S. member organization to the international body. (CIESIN's Director, Roberta Balstad, is currently the chair of the U.S. National Committee for CODATA.)
CODATA was established 33 years ago by ICSU to promote and encourage, on a world-wide basis, the compilation, evaluation and dissemination of reliable numerical data of importance to science and technology. Today over 20 countries are members, and 14 International Scientific Unions have assigned liaison delegates.
“Among other activities, CODATA will represent the scientific community at the World Summit on the Information Society in Tunis in 2005, and will support the development of the electronic Geophysical Year in 2006-2007,” Chen said.
CODATA is concerned with all types of data resulting from experimental measurements, observations and calculations in every field of science and technology, including the physical sciences, biology, geology, astronomy, engineering, environmental science, ecology and others. Particular emphasis is given to data management problems common to different disciplines and to data used outside the field in which they were generated. CODATA publishes the Data Science Journal, a peer-reviewed, open access electronic journal on the management of scientific and technological data and databases.
In addition to his positions at CIESIN, Chen manages the Socioeconomic Data and Applications Center (SEDAC), a data center in NASA’s Earth Observing System Data and Information System.
Chen is also an ex officio member of the Task Group on Data and Scenario Support for Impact and Climate Assessment (TGICA) of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). He serves as CIESIN’s technical representative to the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) and is a member of the Earth Institute’s Climate and Society Cross-Cutting Initiative Steering Committee.
Chen’s current research activities focus on the assessment of global natural disaster risks, the subnational mapping of poverty, the management of geospatial electronic records, and the development of interoperable spatial data services. He has coordinated CIESIN’s efforts to provide spatial analysis and mapping support to the Millennium Project led by Earth Institute Director Jeffrey Sachs.
Prior to joining CIESIN, Chen served on the faculty of the World Hunger Program at Brown University, and he has held research fellowships at the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colorado, the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis in Laxenburg, Austria, and the National Research Council in Washington DC. He received his Ph.D. in geography from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and holds two Masters degrees and a Bachelors degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
The Center for International Earth Science Information Network (CIESIN), a member of the Earth Institute at Columbia University, works at the intersection of the social, natural, and information sciences. Scientists at CIESIN specialize in online data and information management, spatial data integration and training, and interdisciplinary research related to human interactions in the environment. CIESIN researchers seek to provide data that informs scientific, public and private decision-makers worldwide.
The Earth Institute at Columbia University is the world’s leading academic center for the integrated study of Earth, its environment and society. The Earth Institute builds upon excellence in the core disciplines—earth sciences, biological sciences, engineering sciences, social sciences and health sciences—and stresses cross-disciplinary approaches to complex problems. Through research, training and global partnerships, it mobilizes science and technology to advance sustainable development, while placing special emphasis on the needs of the world’s poor. For more information, visit www.earth.columbia.edu.