Advisory Board

Dr. Assouline is a professor of school psychology at The University of Iowa and the director of the UI Belin-Blank Center.  She received her B. S. in general science with a teaching endorsement, her Ed.S. in School Psychology, and her Ph.D. in Psychological and Quantitative Foundations, all from The University of Iowa.  Upon completion of her doctorate, she was awarded a two-year post-doctoral fellowship at the Study of Mathematically Precocious Youth (SMPY) at Johns Hopkins University and subsequently joined the Belin-Blank Center in 1990.  She is especially interested in academically talented elementary students and is co-author  (with Ann Shoplik) of both editions of Developing Math Talent (2005, 2011).  As well, she is co-developer of The Iowa Acceleration Scale (2009), a tool designed to guide educators and parents through decisions about accelerating students.  In 2004, she co-authored, with Nicholas Colangelo and Miraca U. M. Gross, A Nation Deceived:  How Schools Hold Back America’s Brightest Students. Dr. Assouline has served on the editorial board of Gifted Child Quarterly. She has conducted numerous workshops for parents and teachers on acceleration, development of mathematical talent, and twice-exceptional students (gifted/ students with a disability).    In 2005, she received the University of Iowa Board of Regents Staff Excellence Award.  In 2007 and 2010 she received the Mensa Education & Research Foundation Award for Excellence in Research.

Norman Ralph Augustine is a U.S. aerospace businessman who served as Under Secretary of the Army from 1975 to 1977. Augustine served as chairman of the Review of United States Human Space Flight Plans Committee.

Augustine was raised in Colorado and attended Princeton University, where he graduated with a BSE in Aeronautical Engineering, magna cum laude, and an MSE. He was elected to Phi Beta Kappa, Tau Beta Pi and Sigma Xi.

In 1958 he joined the Douglas Aircraft Company in California, where he worked as a research engineer, program manager and chief engineer. Beginning in 1965, he served in the Office of the Secretary of Defense as Assistant Director of Defense Research and Engineering. He joined LTV Missiles and Space Company in 1970, serving as vice president of advanced programs and marketing. In 1973 he returned to the government as Assistant Secretary of the Army and in 1975 became Under Secretary of the Army, and later Acting Secretary of the Army. Joining Martin Marietta Corporation in 1977 as vice president of technical operations, he was elected as CEO in 1987 and chairman in 1988, having previously been president and COO. In 1990, he chaired the Advisory Committee on the Future of the U.S. Space Program, known as the Augustine Committee. He served as president of the Lockheed Martin Corporation upon the formation of that company in 1995, and became CEO later that year. He retired as chairman and CEO of Lockheed Martin in August 1997, when he became a lecturer with the rank of professor on the faculty of Princeton University where he served until July 1999.

In 1999 he helped found In-Q-Tel, a venture capital firm sponsored by the CIA with a mandate to support United States intelligence by investing in advanced technology.

Augustine was chairman and principal officer of the American Red Cross for nine years, chairman of the National Academy of Engineering, president and chairman of the Association of the United States Army, chairman of the Aerospace Industries Association, and chairman of the Defense Science Board. He is a former president of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics and the Boy Scouts of America. He is a former member of the board of directors of ConocoPhillips, Black & Decker, Procter & Gamble and Lockheed Martin, and was a member of the board of trustees of Colonial Williamsburg. He is a regent of the University System of Maryland, trustee emeritus of Johns Hopkins and a former member of the board of trustees of Princeton and MIT. He is a member of the advisory board to the Department of Homeland Security, was a member of the Hart/Rudman Commission on National Security, and served for 16 years on the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology. He is a member of the guiding coalition of the Project on National Security Reform. He is a member of the American Philosophical Society, the National Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the Explorers Club.

In May 2009 Augustine was named as chairman of the Review of United States Human Space Flight Plans Committee, that was tasked to review NASA’s plans for the Moon, Mars and beyond.

In March 2011 Augustine agreed to serve as chair of the U.S. Antarctic Program Blue Ribbon Panel to assess U.S. activities in the South Pole. In July 2011, Augustine became a member of the United States Energy Security Council, which seeks to diminish oil’s monopoly over the US transportation sector and is sponsored by the Institute for the Analysis of Global Security (IAGS).He currently sits on the America Abroad Media advisory board.

Augustine has been presented the National Medal of Technology by the President of the United States and received the Joint Chiefs of Staff Distinguished Public Service Award. He has five times received the Department of Defense’s highest civilian decoration, the Distinguished Civilian Service Award. He is co-author of The Defense Revolution and Shakespeare In Charge and author of Augustine’s Laws and Augustine’s Travels. He holds 34 honorary degrees and was selected by Who’s Who in America and the Library of Congress as one of “Fifty Great Americans” on the occasion of Who’s Who’s fiftieth anniversary. He has traveled in over 111 countries and stood on both the North and South Poles of the earth.

Dr. Mazur, widely recognized for his work in optical physics, is the Balkanski Professor of Physics and Applied Physics at Harvard University. Believing that better science education for all — not just science majors — is vital for continued progress, he devotes part of his research group’s efforts to improving classroom instruction. His Peer Instruction method has developed an international following and has been adopted across many science disciplines.

Mazur chairs the instructional strategy advisory group for Turning Technologies, a company developing interactive response systems for the education market. A Fellow of the American Physical Society and Fellow of the Optical Society of America, he received the Millikan Medal from the American Association of Physics Teachers in 2008.

Dr. Saul is the Director for the Center for Mathematical Talent at the Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences of New York University. The Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences is a leading center for research and education in mathematics and computer science. For seventy-five years, the institute has contributed to U.S. and international science and engineering by promoting an integrated view of mathematics and computation. His recent work includes curriculum development with the Educational Development Center. Earlier, with the National Science Foundation, Saul directed the Presidential Awards for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching, an honor he himself received in 1984.

Internationally, Saul has consulted with educators in Taiwan, China, Bulgaria, Botswana, South Africa and India. His publications include an elementary text on trigonometry co-authored with I.M. Gelfand. He has served as president of the American Regions Mathematics League, a board member of the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics and a member of the Mathematical Sciences Education Board for the National Research Council.

Claire M. Fraser, Ph.D. is Director of the Institute for Genome Sciences at the University of Maryland School of Medicine in Baltimore, MD.  She has joint faculty appointments at the University of Maryland School of Medicine in the department of Medicine and Microbiology/Immunology.

Until 2007, she was President and Director of The Institute for Genomic Research (TIGR) in Rockville, MD, and led the teams that sequenced the genomes of several microbial organisms, including important human and animal pathogens. She helped launch the new field of microbial genomics and revolutionized the way microbiology has been studied. Her work with the FBI on the Amerithrax investigation between 2001 and 2008 led to the identification of four genetic mutations in the anthrax spores that allowed the FBI to trace the material back to its original source.  She is one of the world’s experts in microbial forensics and the growing concern about dual uses – research that can provide knowledge and technologies that could be misapplied. Her current research interests are focused on the role of the human gut microbiome in health and disease.

Dr. Fraser has authored more than 300 publications, edited three books, and served on the editorial boards of nine scientific journals.  For 10 years, she was the most highly cited investigator in the field of microbiology.  Her list of awards include: the E.O. Lawrence Award, the highest honor bestowed on research scientists by the Department of Energy, the Promega Biotechnology Award from the American Society of Microbiology, and the Charles Thom Award from the Society for Industrial Microbiology. She has been selected as one of Maryland’s Top 100 Women Circle of Excellence, and in 2010, named to Maryland Women’s Hall of Fame, and in 2011, Dr. Fraser was elected to the National Academy of Medicine of the National Academies of Science.  She was named an Influential Marylander honoree in 2013.  She has been awarded the World Trade Center Institute’s International Leadership Award, the Drexel Prize in Infectious Disease and named amongst Thomson Reuters World’s Most Influential Scientific Minds in 2014.  The University of Maryland School of Medicine honored Dr. Fraser with the investiture of the Dean’s Endowed Professorship in the School of Medicine in 2015.

She has served on many advisory panels for all of the major Federal funding agencies, the National Research Council, the Department of Defense, and the intelligence community. In addition, she has contributed her time as a Board member for universities, research institutes, and other non-profit groups because of her commitment to the education of our next generation of scientists.  Since 2006, Dr. Fraser has also served as a member of the Board of Directors of Becton, Dickinson and Company (BD), a Fortune 500 medical technology company.

Dr. Subotnik directs the American Psychological Association’s Center for Gifted Education Policy. The center generates public awareness, advocacy, clinical applications and research to enhance the performance of children and adolescents with special gifts and talents. Previously, she was a professor in gifted education at Hunter College and a gifted education specialist in the Seattle Public Schools.

Subotnik is the first author of Genius Revisited: High IQ Children Grown Up and co-editor of books including Developing Giftedness and Talent Across the Life Span, Optimizing Student Success with the Other Three R’s: Reasoning, Resilience and Responsibility, and The International Handbook of Research on Giftedness and Talent (2nd Edition). She received the National Association for Gifted Children Distinguished Scholar award in 2002.

Ms. Zinaman is a graduate of American University (B.A.) majoring in Elementary Education and the University of Maryland (M.Ed.) with a major in Gifted Education.  She retired from Prince George’s County Public Schools after 32 years serving as a gifted education teacher and gifted education coordinator.  She was the Talented and Gifted (TAG) Magnet Coordinator for 11 years from the onset of the magnet program at Glenarden Woods Elementary School, where more than 250 gifted magnet students attended.  Subsequently, Helaine worked in the TAG Office where she was a TAG Specialist and then the TAG Supervisor for the whole school system.  She has presented at local, state and national conferences.  Helaine is the recipient of a Senate of Maryland Official Citation, and a Proclamation from the County Executive for accomplishments in gifted education. She is listed in Who’s Who Among America’s Teachers and Who’s Who Among America’s Women.

In her retirement, Ms. Zinaman is continuing her passion for education, teacher training, and advocating for gifted students.  She is the Executive Director of the Maryland Educators for Gifted Students (MEGS), an organization which supports and provides professional development for teachers and administrators working with gifted students.  She serves on the Maryland State Advisory Council on Gifted and Talented Education and is the co-chair of the Public Awareness sub-committee. She is trained to teach the Maryland State Department of Education (MSDE) online course, Early Talent Development, and certified to administer and score the Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking.