Gerson S. Sher (USA)

Gerson Sher has been President of the U.S. Civilian Research Development Foundation (CRDF) for the Independent States of the Former Soviet Union since it was formed in 1995. From 1993 to 1995, he served as Chief Operating Officer for the International Science Foundation, a $140 million private charitable foundation funded by Mr. George Soros. He served for 20 years on the staff of the National Science Foundation’s Division of International Programs, where he directed cooperative science programs with the former Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, following six years of service as a program officer for scientific exchanges with the same region at the National Research Council/National Academy of Sciences.

Dr. Sher holds a Ph.D. in Politics from Princeton University and a B.A. in Russian Studies from Yale University. His publications include Praxis: Marxist Criticism and Dissent in Socialist Yugoslavia (Indiana University Press, 1977) as well as articles and presentations on U.S.-Soviet and post-Soviet scientific cooperation. He speaks Russian, Serbo-Croatian and French. He is a member of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the American Association for the Advancement of Slavic Studies. He is married with two children and lives in Washington, D.C.