Gerson S. Sher

Gerson S. Sher and his wife, Margery, are the parents of Adam, a 2002 Evergreen graduate. They also have a son, Jeremy, who graduated MIT in 1999. Gerson has a bachelor's degree in Russian studies from Yale and a doctorate in politics from Princeton.

He has worked for more than 30 years to promote science and technological cooperation with the Soviet Union and now with the independent states of the region. He served for 20 years on the staff of the U.S. National Science Foundation's Division of International programs, managing cooperative scientific programs with the U.S.S.R. and Eastern Europe. From 1993 to 1995, on a leave of absence from the NSF, he was Chief Operating Officer of the International Science Foundation, which was established by the philanthropist George Soros, to provide massive emergency relief to the scientists of the former Soviet Union. From 1995 to 2004, Gerson was founding President and Executive Director of the U.S. Civilian Research and Development Foundation for the Independent States of the Former Soviet Union, a nonprofit foundation created by the National Science Foundation. He is currently an independent consultant on issues relating to international science and technology cooperation.

Prior to joining the NSF, Gerson served for six years on the staff of the National Academy of Sciences/National Research Council. He has also held temporary assignments in the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy and as Visiting Assistant Professor of Political Science at Duke University.

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