Staff Biographies    

 Peter H. Henderson is Director of the National Research Council’s Board on Higher Education and Workforce (BHEW).  His areas of specialization include higher education policy, labor markets for scientists and engineers, and federal science and technology research funding. He currently directs BHEW's Study on Research Universities and COSEPUP’s Study on Underrepresented Groups and the Expansion of the Science and Engineering Workforce Pipeline, both of which are follow-ups to the National Academies’ Rising Above the Gathering Storm. He has previously contributed as study director or staff to a variety of education and workforce studies including:

• Science Professionals: Master’s Education for a Competitive World;
• Enhancing the Community College Pathway to Engineering Careers; 
• Policy Implications of International Graduate Students and Postdoctoral Scholars in the United States;
• Assessment of NIH Minority Research Training Programs;
• Evaluation of the Markey Scholars Program; and
• Building a Workforce for the Information Economy.

He has also contributed to studies of the research enterprise, including: 

•  Rising Above the Gathering Storm: Energizing and Employing America for a Brighter Economic Future,
•  Measuring the Science and Engineering Enterprise,
•  Trends in Federal Support of Research and Graduate Education, and 
• Observations on the President's Federal Science and Technology Budget.

Dr. Henderson holds a Master in Public Policy (1984) from Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government and a Ph.D. in American Political History from The Johns Hopkins University (1994).  He is a former Presidential Management Intern (1984-1986).  He joined the National Academies staff in 1996 and is the recipient of the National Academies' Distinguished Service Award (2003).


Libby O’Hare joined the Board on Higher Education and Workforce (BHEW) as a Program Officer in February, 2013.  She holds a Ph.D. in Neuroscience from the University of California, Los Angeles and an A.B. in Psychology from Bryn Mawr College.  Her graduate research was supported by a National Research Training Award (NRSA) from the National Institutes of Health and used functional and structural Magnetic Resonance Imaging to link age-related changes in brain structure with the development of memory and problem solving abilities in children and adolescents. 

After completing a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of California Berkeley, Dr. O'Hare was selected by the Society for Research in Child Development as a 2010 American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) Congressional Science Policy Fellow.  Dr. O’Hare served in the office of Representative Rush Holt (NJ-12).  Upon completing her fellowship, she joined Rep. Holt’s office as a Legislative Assistant, where she handled energy, environment, science, and education policy issues and staffed Rep. Holt in his role as the Senior Democrat on the Energy and Mineral Resources Subcommittee, House Committee on Natural Resources. 

   
 Sabrina E. Hall, Program Associate, manages the administrative tasks and meeting logistics for BHEW’s ad hoc committees.  Before coming to the Academies in 2008, she was an office manager for the humanitarian organization CARE.  Ms. Hall recently received a M.S.A. in Non-Profit Management from Trinity Washington University and a B.A. from Morgan State University.