From the PhD to Research Policy
Interested in the business of science or how research programs get designed, funded, and managed? Hear Mike Holland discuss how he went from imaging aluminum uptake in soybean roots to overseeing multi-billion dollar federal research programs.
Published December 21, 2012
Mike Holland, PhD
Chief of Staff, NYU Center for Urban Science & Progress
Mike Holland earned his PhD in analytical chemistry from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. In 1999 after a brief post doc at Penn State, he joined the White House Office of Management & Budget as the program examiner overseeing the Department of Energy's Office of Science—now a $4.9 billion program and the largest source of funding for basic research in the physical sciences. He then took positions as a science policy staffer at the White House Office of Science & Technology Policy, the House Science Committee, and the Department of Energy, where he helped develop research strategies like DOE's first ever Quadrennial Technology Review, draft legislation authorizing a prize for hydrogen-fueled vehicle technologies that was incorporated into the Energy Independence & Security Act, and helped provide funding for new scientific user facilities like Brookhaven's National Synchrotron Light Source-II. Starting in May 2012, Mike has served as Chief of Staff at NYU's Center for Urban Science & Progress.
Some helpful links on science policy careers can be downloaded here.