Dr. Jean Cottam Allen joins the Office of Polar Programs as acting director
Dr. Cottam is an astrophysicist with extensive experience working with the OPP. Dr. Cottam has worked on both Antarctic and Arctic projects as Program Director for Particle Astrophysics and the Physics Frontiers Centers and now as Deputy Division Director in the Division of Physics. She has visited Summit Station and spent time at South Pole Station. Dr. Cottam also has extensive experience overseeing the development and operations of research facilities.
Before joining NSF, Dr. Cottam spent seven years at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center as an instrument scientist for a flagship x-ray observatory and then as Chief Scientist for the Physics of the Cosmos Program Office. She also spent two years on a detail assignment to the Office of Science and Technology Policy in the Executive Office of the President, first as a Senior Policy Analyst and then as the Assistant Director for Physical Sciences. In this role, she worked with leaders in the scientific community, counterparts at Federal agencies, and congressional staff to address a wide range of issues related to the physical sciences and provide recommendations to the President’s Science Advisor.
She received her Ph.D. in Physics from Columbia University in 2001.