TICORA V. JONES is a “social” scientist and social innovator bridging the worlds of policy, international development, strategy, program development, and bureaucracy. She is passionate about the intersection of science with real-world policy and program change, particularly exploring how we can translate creative research into practice. Dr. Jones is acting deputy assistant administrator and acting director for the Innovation, Technology, and Research (ITR) Hub of the US Agency for International Development (USAID), and is the ITR Hub’s chief scientist and managing director for research. Jones manages USAID research and development programs that build bridges between development professionals and universities based on integrating science, technology, innovation, and entrepreneurship. Beginning in 2009 as an AAAS Diplomacy, Security, and Development Fellow, she helped manage the establishment of an agency-wide agenda for science and technology policy and programming, which was designed to elevate USAID’s presence in this area. Prior to joining USAID, Dr. Jones served as the 2008 -2009 Materials Societies Congressional Fellow for Senator Russell D. Feingold (D-WI), working on energy and environment issues. Before beginning her congressional fellowship, she conducted post-doctoral research focused on creating and characterizing nanoparticle/composite-based functional materials at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. Dr. Jones earned her BS degree in materials science and engineering from MIT and her PhD in polymer science and engineering from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst.
