OIA Staff

Dr. Nathaniel G. Pitts, Director npitts@nsf.gov 4201 Wilson Boulevard, Room 1270 Arlington, Virginia 22230 Phone: 703-292-8040 Fax: 703-292-9040

NATHANIEL PITTS

Dr. Nathaniel G. Pitts was appointed Director of the Office of Integrative Activities (OIA) on March 15, 1998. As Director of OIA, he is responsible for overseeing and coordinating cross-Foundational activities surrounding: 1) the NSF supported Science and Technology Centers: Integrative Partnerships; 2) the Congressionally mandated Major Research Instrumentation Program; 3) the Presidential Early Career Awards for Science and Engineering; 4) the NSF Merit Review Process; 5) the Committee of Visitors Process; 6) the Government Performance Results Act implementation; and 7) the Congressionally mandated Committee on Equal Opportunity in Science and Engineering (CEOSE). He serves on the Director's Policy Group, the Senior Management Integration Group, and has made numerous presentations to the National Science Board while representing the NSF Director on management issues and NSF-wide programs. He also serves as the representative to the Federal Demonstration Partnership (FDP) representing the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) of the White House.

Since joining the National Science Foundation (NSF) in 1977 as a neuroscience program officer, Dr. Pitts has developed and directed numerous neuroscience programs, served as Neuroscience Section Head, served as Deputy Director of the Behavioral and Neural Science Division (BNS) and served as Acting Director of BNS temporarily. He was detailed to the National Institutes of Health (NIH) as a health science administrator for a year while overseeing neuroscience programs associated with nervous system disorders. He has worked for Senator Edward M. Kennedy, Chair of the Senate Labor and Human Resources Committee while preparing science and math education legislation. He has also served on numerous intra-agency and inter-agency working groups including the Director's Action Review Board, Inter-agency Working Group on Spinal Cord and Brain Injury, and the White House Committee on the Decade of the Brain. He became Director of the Office of Science and Technology Infrastructure in 1991, an Office of the NSF Director. He chaired the subcommittee on Academic Research Infrastructure for the White House National Science and Technology Council (NSTC-1994) and has chaired a Working Group for the Research Business Models Subcommittee for the NSTC (2003). He has chaired various intra-agency working groups such as the Working Group on Cognitive Science and the new program manager's seminar on cross-directorate activities. Finally, he served as Special Assistant to the Director of NSF (1991-1992).

Dr. Pitts speaks both nationally and internationally on various issues concerning science and technology policy including: research infrastructure; human resource development; technology transfer; the integration of research and education; and the evaluation of the U.S. basic research enterprise. In this regard, he has served at a U.S. delegate to APEC (2004) addressing international science policy issues and has addressed European Union committees (2001) on related matters.

Dr. Pitts has won numerous awards while serving as a civil servant, twice winning the Presidential Rank Award for Senior Executives.

Prior to joining NSF, Dr. Pitts was on the faculty of the Rockefeller University where he researched both sensory and motor spinal pathways of the central nervous system. He received his B.S Degree in biology/chemistry from Whittier College and his Ph.D. degree in neurophysiology from the University of California at Davis.