The Georgia Institute of Technology announces that Diana Hicks has been named the new Chair of the School of Public Policy in Ivan Allen College effective September 1. Hicks brings significant experience in science and technology policy in both the academic and corporate research arenas. She fills the position currently held by Susan Cozzens, who after a five-year stint as school chair plans to return to an active research agenda.

"Diana, in both her current research position and in her previous research, has focused on science policy, an area of strength in our School of Public Policy," says Sue Rosser, Dean, Ivan Allen College, the Liberal Arts College of Georgia Tech. "She enjoys respect from her peers and is widely acknowledged to be a significant science policy scholar with excellent academic credentials as well. I am confident she will raise the school's already strong profile in science and technology policy."

Hicks comes to Georgia Tech from CHI Research, Inc. where she has served as a senior policy analyst since 1998 specializing in science and technology policy. Before joining CHI Research, from 1988-97 Hicks was on the faculty of the Science Policy Research Unit at the University of Sussex, a leading research university in the United Kingdom, where she taught graduate courses in science policy and sociology of science and directed a graduate program.

She was a visiting professor at the Haas School of Business at the University of California, Berkeley in 1994, where she taught an MBA course on innovation in Japan. In 1990-91, as a visiting fellow at the National Institute of Science and Technology Policy (NISTEP) in Tokyo, she researched university-industry research links in Japan.

"I am excited to be joining a distinguished group of colleagues with international reputations in science and technology policy. I look forward to undertaking the challenging role of chair of the School of Public Policy at Georgia Tech," said Hicks. "The School has thrived under Susan Cozzens' leadership, and building on that momentum I hope to continue the School's leadership in the study of science and technology policy and to enhance the visibility of this nationally ranked program."

Her career has focused on analyzing large databases of patents and papers to address questions of broad interest at the intersection of science and technology. Most recently she has been working for several Federal agencies analyzing the U.S. patent database to answer agency's questions about the relationship between their research and U.S. technology. She has also examined whether there is evidence in patterns of patenting in the U.S. to suggest that new technology is changing the nature of innovation and its relationship to research. Other recent work established that technology is most likely to build on high-quality, often basic, research. Hicks has published extensively in peer-reviewed publications including such prestigious science and technology journals as Nature, Research Policy, Scientometrics, and Science, Technology and Human Values. She also authored a chapter in the widely read "AAAS Science and Technology Policy Yearbook."

Hicks received her B.A. in Physics from Grinnell College in Iowa. She then studied at the University of Sussex on a Fulbright Scholarship for her Master's degree and later completed her Ph.D. degree from the University of Sussex as well.

The nationally ranked School of Public Policy is part of Ivan Allen College, the Liberal Arts College of Georgia Tech. The School offers B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. degrees in Public Policy as well as undergraduate course work in several social science disciplines whose theories and methods contribute to the systematic study of public policy problems. The School also offers undergraduate courses in political science, philosophy, and other social sciences. Research and studies at the School of Public Policy focus on policy issues characterized by their scientific and technological content. This distinguishes the School from many other policy programs. The School offers several certificates and minors, including a Pre-Law minor and certificate.