Science Foundation, and Michigan State University
have prepared him to anticipate a researcher's infor-
mational needs. BIOSIS will make great use of his
expertise in information system design, bioinforma-
tion infrastructure, and biomedical informatics.
In addition to being a member of BIOSIS' Board of
Trustees, Dr. Robbins is also affiliated with the
American Association for the Advancement of
Science, the American Society for Microbiology, the
Association for Computing Machinery, the Genetics
Society of America, SIGMOD, SIGIR, SIGSOFT, and
the IEEE Computer Society. In recognition of his
accomplishments, Dr. Robbins is listed in American
Men and Women of Science and several Who's Who
publications. He has collected Outstanding Performance
Awards from the National Science Foundation.
Dr. Robbins would like to see BIOSIS continue to
stand out as having the most comprehensive collection
of referenced scientific literature. He would also like
to see a continued focus on providing more services
for physical access to the literature. BIOSIS has
already taken steps in that direction through BIOSIS
Document Express
TM
and now through SilverPlatter's
SilverLinker and Ovid Full Text. Subscribers to
SilverPlatter and Ovid are able to link from BIOSIS'
databases to the actual journal article, if available
online.
Dr. Robbins sees that his greatest contribution to the
scientific community is his active participation in the
emergence of computers as an essential resource for
biological research. "Science depends on the flow
of scientific information from the laboratories to pub-
lishers to the community. The deployment of IT in
support of scientific communication is at the core of
my personal interests. The opportunity to serve on
the BIOSIS Board was thus very appealing to me."
More information about Robert J. Robbins, as well
as on-line access to some of his publications, is avail-
able on the web (http://www.esp.org/rjr).
2
BIOSIS Evolutions
Board of Trustees Profile:
Robert J. Robbins
BIOSIS is very pleased to welcome Robert J. Robbins,
Vice President of Information Technology at the Fred
Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, to its Board of
Trustees. As a leader in the Information Technology
field, Dr. Robbins will assist in guiding BIOSIS
through this rapidly evolving period of scientific
publishing. "Diversity of expertise and experience
can be very helpful in guiding an organization
through the kind of turmoil that IT (information
technology) advances can engender. I anticipate that
the diverse experience of the BIOSIS Board of
Trustees will be especially important in guiding
BIOSIS over the next few years."
Not a stranger to BIOSIS' databases, Dr. Robbins
began searching Biological Abstracts and Zoological
Record
as a graduate student at Michigan State. He
sees the Internet as a primary source of information
retrieval, especially in regards to the scientific field.
His experience with the Internet over the last ten
years has completely changed the way he searches
for information.
"The maturation of electronic publishing will cause
major transformations in the roles of different play-
ers in the publishing process," said Dr. Robbins. He
expects to see major shifts in this process, even a
change as drastic as a role reversal between primary
and secondary publishers. "All publishers should
recognize that roles are changing and should actively
seek new roles and opportunities. Current publishers
who do not actively shape the new publishing para-
digm will be shaped by it."
Dr. Robbins adds over twenty years of teaching and
research experience in the fields of biology and
information science to the Board of Trustees. His
responsibilities at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer
Research Center include the strategic planning of
information technology utilization and the obtainment
of funding for technology-based research and information
infrastructure. Through this position, Dr. Robbins
knows firsthand the roles of computers, telecommu-
nications, and electronic publishing in research today.
His past associations with Johns Hopkins University,
the DOE Human Genome Program, the National
R o b e rt J. Robbins,
Vice President of
I n f o rmation Te c h n o l o g y,
F red Hutchinson Cancer
R e s e a rch Center
