Allison M. Macfarelane is currently Professor of Science Policy and International Affairs at the George Washington University, Director of the Institute for International Science and Technology Policy at the university’s Elliott School of International Affairs. Dr. Macfarlane served as Chairman of the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission from July 2012 through December 2014. Dr Macfarlane holds a PhD in geology from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a BSc degree in geology from the University of Rochester. She has held fellowships at Radcliffe College, MIT, Stanford, and Harvard Universities. She has been on the faculty at Georgia Tech and George Mason University. From 2010 to 2012 she served on the Blue Ribbon Commission on America's Nuclear Future, created by the Obama Administration to develop a national strategy for the nation's high-level nuclear waste.