Executive Committee

Dr. David E. Schindel

Dr. David Schindel is the Executive Secretary of the Consortium for the Barcode of Life (CBOL), an international project devoted to developing a global system for identifying species using short genetic sequences. A database of genetic sequences tied to preserved specimens, whose identities have been validated by taxonomists, would allow non-specialists to identify species and solve problems in fields related to conservation, public health and agriculture. The Consortium includes natural history museums, herbaria, zoos, repositories of frozen tissues and type cultures, and genetic research centers that have agreed to develop the barcoding technique and to build a global database of shared data. Dr. Schindel directs the Consortium’s secretariat, which is hosted by the Smithsonian Institution’s Museum of Natural History and supported by a grant from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. Prior to joining CBOL, Dr. Schindel served as Head of the National Science Foundation’s (NSF) Europe Office from 1998 to 2004, located in the US Embassy in Paris. In this role, Dr. Schindel was NSF’s representative to Western, Central, and Eastern Europe as well as to the multinational organizations headquartered there.

Dr. Schindel is an invertebrate paleontologist whose research explored evolutionary theory, computer-based analysis of evolutionary change, and the role of the fossil record in shaping evolutionary theory. He received a B.S. in Geology from the University of Michigan (1973) and went on to study marine geology briefly at the University of Southern California. From 1974 to 1977 he was a doctoral student at Harvard University and an advisee of Dr. Stephen J. Gould. Dr. Schindel was a Pre-Doctoral Fellow in Systematic and Evolutionary Biology at the Smithsonian from 1977-1978 and was awarded a Ph.D. in Geological Sciences from Harvard in 1979. Dr. Schindel joined the Yale University faculty in 1978 in the Department of Geology & Geophysics. He served as an Assistant and Associate Professor and the Curator of Invertebrate Fossils in the Yale Peabody Museum from 1978 to 1986.

In 1986, Dr. Schindel joined the NSF as Associate Program Director in the Systematic Biology Program. In 1989 he was appointed Program Director of the Biological Research Resources Program in charge of support for systematic collections in natural history museums. In September of 1991 he began a two-year assignment as Program Director in NSF's Teacher Enhancement Program, Directorate for Education and Human Resources, where he worked with large school districts in the design of instructional frameworks and programs for teacher training in elementary science. From May 1993 to March 1998, Dr. Schindel served as Senior Science Advisor in the Office of Science & Technology Infrastructure, which oversees the Science & Technology Centers, NSF's support for facilities modernization, and other interdisciplinary activities. Since March 1998, he has been the Executive Associate in the NSF Director’s Office of Integrative Activities, with broad-ranging responsibilities for organizational development and program development.

During 1997, David Schindel was a Brookings Institution LEGIS Fellow in the office of Senator Jeff Bingaman (D-NM). During this one-year fellowship, Dr. Schindel worked on educational technology, higher education, and science and technology for the Senator. During that period, Senator Bingaman introduced S.839, the Technology for Teachers Act, and secured a $30 million appropriation teacher training in technology, awarded through a competitive program in the U.S. Department of Education.

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