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Alexandra Albinak
Associate Vice Provost for Research Administration
Johns Hopkins University
amckeow1@jhu.edu
FDP Administrative Co-chair and President of the Federal Demonstration Partnership Foundation
Alexandra M. Albinak is the Associate Vice Provost for Research Administration at Johns Hopkins University, supporting the efforts of the faculty across the university to identify and acquire funding for their research and providing leadership to the university’s research administration functions. She has over 30 years of experience in research administration and currently serves as Co-chair of the Federal Demonstration Partnership. She is a member of the Research Security and Intellectual Property Committee of the Council on Governmental Relations (COGR) and is a former member of the COGR Board of Directors and Executive Committee. Alex is past chair of the National Council of University Research Administrators (NCURA) Region II. She has participated in NCURA as workshop faculty, moderator and as a speaker. In addition, she served as a member of the NCURA Presidential Task Force on Educational Needs.
Previous positions include Associate Dean for Research Administration at the university’s Bloomberg School of Public Health and Assistant Vice President for Research Administration and Advancement at the University of Maryland. She holds a BA from Towson University, an MBA from Johns Hopkins University, and a JD from the University of Baltimore. She is also a member of the Maryland State Bar.
Laura McCabe, Ph.D
MSU Foundation Distinguished Professor,
Department of Physiology,
Michigan State University
mccabel@msu.edu
FDP Faculty Co-chair and Vice President of the Federal Demonstration Partnership Foundation
Laura R. McCabe is an MSU Foundation Distinguished Professor in the Department of Physiology, Michigan State University and Associate Vice President of Research Regulatory Support. She received her B.A. and Ph.D. from the University of Chicago and post-doctoral training at the University of Massachusetts Medical Center. Her training spans from integrative gastrointestinal physiology to molecular mechanisms of osteoblast differentiation. Her research focuses on the gut-bone signaling axis as a therapeutic target, studying its mechanisms and its ability to mediate or prevent bone loss. In collaboration with a multidisciplinary team of investigators, her lab is identifying specific treatments targeting the gut to benefit skeletal health and prevent osteoporosis. She has over 115 publications (include original publications, reviews, and chapters), multiple patents, and her research has been funded by federal, foundation and industry agencies (NIH, NSF, NASA, ADA, CCFA, CPI).
In recognition of her research, she received the MSU Foundation Distinguished Professorship as well as Distinguished Service, Research Excellence, AAAS fellow, and Academic Advancement Network Leadership Awards. In her roles as Principal Investigator, Director of the Beckman Scholar Program, Advisor to the Presidents of the Council of Graduate Students and Faculty Senate Chair, she has mentored more than 100 undergrad, grad, post-doc, and young investigators. She served(s) on numerous University and external (Federal, Foundation, Research Society) advisory, regulatory, and grant review panels. She also serves as the AVP of MSU’s Research Regulatory Support Unit. She is active in national science policy and served on committees for Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology (FASEB), the American Society of Bone and Mineral Research (ASBMR), the American Physiological Society (APS), and the Federal Demonstration Project.
Maria Koszalka
Executive Director
mkoszalka@nas.edu
Maria comes to the FDP following a long career as a published researcher and research administrator for several key federal research agencies including the National Science Foundation, the National Institute of Food and Agriculture (U.S. Department of Agriculture), the National Institutes of Health, and the Health Resources and Services Administration. She has also worked in the private sector for the Office of Technology Development at the Northrop Grumman Corporation and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute.
Prior to assuming her position at the FDP, Maria spent more than six years in the Division of Institution and Award Support (DIAS) at the National Science Foundation. In that position, among her responsibilities was the implementation of Research.gov, the online electronic grants management system that has replaced FastLane. For the past few years, Maria has served as the institutional representative to the FDP of the National Science Foundation. In that capacity, Maria has worked with several key committees, including the Membership Committee, the Federal Engagement Working Group, the Faculty Committee, and the FDP Executive Committee. Maria is the recipient of the NCURA 2021 Joseph F. Carrabino Award for her significant contributions to research administration.
See NCURA Magazine’s article, FDP Update: Welcome to a New Executive Director on Maria Koszalka!
Flannery Wasson
Contractor
flannerywasson@thefdp.org
Flannery brings experience as a Program Coordinator in the Policy and Global Affairs division of the U.S. National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM). She began at the National Academies in 2018 working with the first cohort of the New Voices in Science, Engineering and Medicine and the Office of International Secretaries assisting with Glenn Schweitzer with U.S.-Russian Collaboration in Addressing Access by Violent Extremists to Nuclear, Radiological, Biological, and Chemical Terrorism: A Workshop Series. Additional projects included leading the International Visitors Office, consisting of assisting with visa cases and questions from scientists interested in visiting the United States. Since 2020, Flannery assisted multiple US National Committees with the Board on International Scientific Organizations.
Flannery is originally from Arkansas and graduated with a degree in Political Science and African and African-American History from the University of Arkansas.
Michele Masucci, Ph.D
Vice Chancellor for Research and Economic Development
Professor of Geography and Environmental Systems
University System of Maryland
mmasucci@usmd.edu
FDP Fellow to the National Academies
Dr. Michele Masucci is the Vice Chancellor for Research and Economic Development at the University System of Maryland. She received an M.A. and Ph.D. from Clark University in Geography and a B.S. in Geography and Regional Planning from Salisbury University. She currently holds the position of Professor of Geography and Environmental Systems at the University of Maryland Baltimore County and an appointment as Research Faculty at the University of Maryland College Park. She previously served as the Vice President for Research at Temple University, Director of the Information Technology and Society Research Group and Professor and Chair of the Department of Geography and Urban Studies. In her current position, she is responsible for advancing research and economic development strategy, workforce development, technology commercialization, and innovation across the institutions of the University System of Maryland and the system’s Board of Regents. At Temple University, she led the research enterprise for 10 years, overseeing its rise as the 4th fastest growing research enterprise in the U.S. based on research expenditures. She is the former Federal Demonstration Partnership the Faculty Co-Chair and former President of the Federal Demonstration Partnership Foundation and is a member of the board of directors for Oak Ridge Associated Universities and the University City Science Center.
Dr. Masucci’s research examines how barriers to accessing information resources using geographic information technologies are interrelated with community development and environmental quality problems, including accessing health, education and social services. She led the Building Information Technology Skills (BITS) program for the past 20 years funded by the National Science Foundation, Knight Foundation, Economic Development Agency, Philadelphia Youth Network, and many other sponsors since its inception. Her work on identifying criteria for assessing appropriate use of information technology in marginalized community settings is the focus of numerous peer reviewed publications and books. She has also worked to develop university-community partnerships with organizations that address human rights issues, and with a number of national and international community and environmental planning organizations in the U.S. and Brazil.