Contact Information
Dr. J. Thomas Ratchford
Director, Science & Trade Policy Program
Distinguished Visiting Professor, George Mason University School of Law
E-mail: jratchfo@gmu.edu
Phone: 703-993-8210; 704-892-3025 (direct)
Fax: 704-892-4910 (direct)
Mail Stop: 1E5
Profile
Before joining George Mason University in 1993, Dr. Ratchford was Associate Director for Policy and International Affairs at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP). Prior to confirmation by the Senate to his OSTP position in 1989, he was the Associate Executive Officer of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). Dr. Ratchford is also CEO of STTA, LC.
A condensed matter physicist, Dr. Ratchford has served on university faculties and research staffs of private and governmental laboratories. As a professional staff member and subcommittee staff director of the House of Representatives' Committee on Science in the 1970s, he was one of the first scientists to serve the Congress full-time. He was selected a Congressional Fellow of the American Political Science Association, a fellow of the AAAS and the American Physical Society (APS), and a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. He is active in international science and technology programs in the U.S., Asia, and Europe, and chairs the U.S. side of the U.S.-China Science Policy Initiative for the National Science Foundation.
Dr. Ratchford directs The Tech Center's Science & Trade Policy Program. He publishes extensively on U.S. and global trade and technology trends and policies.
Education
University of Virginia, Ph.D. in Physics
University of Virginia, M.A. in Physics
Davidson College, B.S. in Mathematics and Physics