Appendix A
Committee Biographical Information

Stephen (Steve) R. Yanni (Chair) serves as Land Grant Director for Bay Mills Community College (BMCC), a Tribally Controlled College located in Eastern Upper Michigan, where he oversees BMCC’s efforts as a 1994 Land Grant Institution. He has worked with the Bay Mills Indian Community in various capacities for 25 years. Current areas of focus include continued development of BMCC’s Waishkey Bay Farm as a teaching, research, and incubator facility focusing on sustainable agriculture and food sovereignty that is consistent with traditional Anishinaabek values; development of curriculum in sustainable agriculture, food sovereignty, and health promotion that is grounded in Anishinaabek lifeways; community development and health promotion efforts; oversight of BMCC’s Mukwa Health and Fitness Education Center; and assistance with the evolution of the Michigan Inter-Tribal Land Grant Extension System (MILES). Yanni also serves as BMCC’s liaison with the Higher Learning Commission, coordinates research efforts by and with BMCC, and represents 1994 institutions on the Association of Public and Land-Grant University’s Board on Agriculture Assembly Policy Board of Directors. Prior to working with Bay Mills, he was a faculty member for 18 years at Lake Superior State University and worked for Michigan State University as a County Extension Director. Yanni received a Ph.D. from Michigan State University.

Anthony (Tony) Boccanfuso has led the University-Industry Demonstration Partnership (UIDP) since 2007, serving as executive director when UIDP was convened under the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine and since 2015, when the partnership became an independent nonprofit, as president and CEO. In his 30-plus-year career in research and commercialization roles, he has managed administrative, programmatic, and strategy initiatives for academic and government organizations (including the National Institutes of Health and National Science Foundation, NSF) and also worked in the private sector, where he served as a consultant to major research organizations seeking to maximize their work’s impact. Boccanfuso is part of the leadership for the Engineering Research Visioning Alliance (ERVA), an NSF-funded initiative with a mission to identify and develop new engineering research directions and catalyze high-impact research that benefits society. Boccanfuso received a B.S. in chemistry and political science from Furman University and a Ph.D. in inorganic chemistry from the University of South Carolina. In his role at UIDP Boccanfuso advocates for increasing the impact from academic-corporate partnerships.

Mahmud Farooque is the Associate Director of the Consortium for Science, Policy and Outcomes, and a Clinical Professor in the School for the Future of Innovation in Society at Arizona State University. Previously, he held research leadership positions at the New York Academy of Sciences, City University of New York, Northwestern University, and Purdue University. He is among the world’s leading experts in participatory technology assessment (pTA), a reflexive, adaptable, and scalable method for engaging communities, stakeholders, and publics in social appraisal of science and technology. His expertise draws from science and technology studies, science of science, public administration, public engagement, and

deliberative democracy. Farooque leads the Expert and Citizen Assessment of Science and Technology (ECAST), a distributed network dedicated to research and applications of pTA. Since 2010, with support from public agencies and philanthropic organizations, he has overseen pTA processes on issues such as biodiversity, planetary defense, solar geoengineering, autonomous vehicles, human gene editing, nuclear waste management, and carbon dioxide removal. He serves on the editorial board of the Journal for Technology Assessment in Theory and Practice. Farooque received a Ph.D. in public policy from George Mason University and an M.P.A. from Syracuse University. He currently serves on the National Academies Board on Environmental Studies and Toxicology. Farooque provided testimony, “A Research Infrastructure for Maximizing Public Value of Science,” before the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Science, Space, and Technology Subcommittee on Research and Technology, May 6, 2021, Hearing on “National Science Foundation: Advancing Research for the Future of U.S. Innovation Part II.”

Michael Rios is Vice Provost of Public Scholarship, professor in the Department of Human Ecology, and faculty member in the Community Development, Education, and Geography graduate programs at the University of California, Davis. Rios’ scholarship focuses on institutional transformation in higher education, community engagement, community-driven placemaking, and cultural citizenship. He has authored or co-authored more than 20 journal articles and book chapters and has co-edited several books including Diálogos: Placemaking in Latino Communities and Community Development and Democratic Practice. Recent research focuses on faculty motivations for pursuing engaged scholarship, graduate training in engaged research, and institutional supports for epistemic inclusion. He was inducted into the Academy of Community Engagement Scholarship in 2024 and is co-founder of the University of California Community Engagement Network. Currently, he is serving a 3-year term on the executive committee of the Association of Public Land-grant University’s Commission on Economic and Community Engagement. Rios received an M.Arch. in architecture and an M.C.P. in city planning from the University of California, Berkeley, and a Ph.D. in political geography from the Pennsylvania State University.