Meet the Staff
The Director, Paul Gilman, Ph.D. 
Dr. Gilman assumed the position of Founding Director of the Oak Ridge Center for Advanced Studies (ORCAS) in December 2004.
In November 2001, Dr. Gilman was nominated by President Bush to serve as the Assistant Administrator for the Office of Research and Development which is the scientific and technological arm of the Environmental Protection Agency. After his confirmation in that position, he was also named Science Advisor to the Agency.
Before this nomination, he was Director, Policy Planning for Celera Genomics in Rockville, Maryland. Celera Genomics, a bioinformation and drug discovery company, is known for having decoded the human genome. In his position, Dr. Gilman was responsible for strategic planning for corporate development and communications.
Prior to joining Celera, Dr. Gilman was the Executive Director of the life sciences and agriculture divisions of the National Research Council of the National Academies of Sciences and Engineering. The National Research Council is the operating arm of the National Academies which were chartered to provide independent advice to the government in matters of science and engineering. Dr. Gilman’s divisions focused on risks to health and the environment, protection and management of biotic resources, and practical applications of biology including biotechnology and agriculture.
Before joining the National Research Council, Gilman was the Associate Director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for Natural Resources, Energy, and Science. There he coordinated budget formulation, regulatory, and legislative activities between agencies such as the Environmental Protection Agency, National Science Foundation, Agriculture, and Energy with the Executive Office of the President.
Dr. Gilman served as Executive Assistant to the Secretary of Energy for technical matters before joining the OMB. His responsibilities included participating in policy deliberations and tracking implementation of a variety of programs including the Department’s environmental remediation and basic science research.
Gilman has 13 years of experience working on the staff of the United States Senate. He began that time as a Congressional Science Fellow sponsored by the American Association for the Advancement of Science in the office of Senator Pete V. Domenici. Later, as the Staff Director of the Subcommittee on Energy Research and Development, he was involved in the passage of the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982 and oversight of energy technology and environmental research. Later he served as the chief-of-staff for Senator Domenici.
Dr. Gilman matriculated at Kenyon College in Ohio and received his A.B., M. A., and Ph.D. degrees in ecology and evolutionary biology from Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland.
The Staff
Thomas P. M. Barnett, Ph.D. is Distinguished Strategist, Oak Ridge Center for Advanced Studies. Dr. Barnett is a noted public speaker and strategic planner, and is author of the bestselling books The Pentagon’s New Map and Blueprint for Action. He is also Senior Managing Director of Enterra Solutions, LLC, a company specializing in enterprise resilience management. Barnett has worked in national security affairs since the end of the Cold War, advising both government and corporate entities about military transformation, international security, and globalization.
Heather O’Maonaigh came to ORCAS from New Orleans, LA, where she completed a Master’s Degree in public health at Tulane University. Prior to this, Heather worked for several years at the National Academies’ Institute of Medicine (IOM). During her time at the IOM, Heather worked within the Medical Follow-up Agency on a study of mortality among military participants in U.S. nuclear weapons tests and a study of vaccine acquisition and availability in the U.S. military, as well as a program review of the Department of Defense Global Emerging Infections Surveillance and Response System, among others. Heather also holds a Master’s Degree in demography from Georgetown University and a Bachelor’s Degree in sociology from Western Washington University in Bellingham. As a research associate at ORCAS, Heather prepares grant proposals, maintains Web content, organizes workshops, and writes reports.
Maggie Robinson is an administrative associate at ORCAS.