The Potomac Institute for Policy Studies is pleased to announce that Prof. James Giordano, PhD, has been named Vice President of Academic Programs. Prof. Giordano has served as Chair of Academic Programs since 2009 and will continue to serve as Director of the Institute's Center for Neurotechnology Studies and Executive Director of the Potomac Institute Press.  
 
As Vice President of Academic Programs, Prof. Giordano will restructure and streamline the Programs' organization, and will oversee the Institute's Academic Centers, including the Center for Neurotechnology Studies and the International Center for Terrorism Studies, directed by Prof. Yonah Alexander.  Prof. Giordano will also be responsible for activities of academic fellows, whose independent research will complement and enhance the mission of the Academic Programs.  Click below to watch a video in which Prof. Giordano describes the new structure for the Academic Programs.   

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Commenting on the announcement, Potomac Institute for Policy Studies Chairman and CEO Michael Swetnam said, "Jim is a truly gifted leader and a world class academic: a very rare combination.  We at the Potomac Institute for Policy Studies are truly honored to have him join our leadership team."

Under Prof. Giordano's stewardship as Chair, the Institute's Academic Programs have strengthened ties with universities in the Washington, DC area and abroad; provided a forum for exploration of cutting-edge issues related to human health and welfare, technology and national security across a broad spectrum of disciplines; hosted a distinguished array of guest scholars from around the world; and provided the community with educational resources in the form of public programs and seminars on topics from the emerging "green economy" to the cyborgization of humankind via our increasing reliance on technologies that interact with the nervous system.  Prof. Giordano also directs the Capital Consortium for Neuroscience: Ethical, Legal and Social Issues (CCNELSI), which collaborates with area universities to promote greater understanding of ethical implications of rapidly advancing brain science.
 
Regarding his mission for the Academic Programs, Prof. Giordano said, "I look forward to the challenges and opportunities of continuing to work with our fellows and scholars, and to develop new ideas, projects and programs to keep the Potomac Institute at the forefront of keen intellectual discourse and dialectic that are vital to advancing social good and informing public policy."  
Prof. Giordano is a neuroscientist and neuroethicist whose research addresses the role of neuroscience and technology in medicine, social, and national defense applications.  He is also a Senior Research Associate of the Wellcome Centre for Neuroethics and Uehiro Centre for Practical Philosophy, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK,  University Affiliate Professor of Neurosciences at the Krasnow Institute for Advanced Studies of George Mason University, Fairfax, VA, USA, and William H. and Ruth Crane Schaefer Distinguished Visiting Professor of Neuroscience and Ethics at Gallaudet University, Washington, DC.

Prof. Giordano received a BSc (cum laude) from St. Peter's College, NJ; MA from Norwich University, VT, and was awarded MS, MPhil and PhD (with honors) from the City University of New York. He was a post-doctoral fellow at the Johns Hopkins University, MD; visiting scientist at the Max Planck Institute for Psychiatry, Munich, Germany; and completed post-graduate training in bioethics and health policy at the Neiswanger Institute for Bioethics and Health Policy of Loyola University, IL.