Art Olson: Resume

Resume for Arthur J. Olson, Ph.D

September 2010

olson at scripps.edu, http://mgl.scripps.edu

Education

University of Michigan, B.S., Chemistry 1968

University of California, Berkeley, Ph.D., Physical Chemistry, 1975

Harvard University, Postdoctoral Fellow, 1976-1979


Professional Record

Peace Corps Volunteer, Ghana, West Africa, 1968-69

Staff Scientist Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory (LBL), Berkeley, California 1976-1981

Professor, Department of Molecular Biology, The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI), 1982-2010


Selected Career Highlights

Science:

  1. First atomic resolution structure of a complete virus particle, (Harrison Lab) Harvard, 1978
  2. George M. and Thelma B. Anderson Research Endowed Chair, TSRI, 1985-2010
  3. AutoDock, first flexible molecular docking computer program, (Goodsell) TSRI, 1990
  4. NIH Program Project “Resistance Driven Design for HIV Therapeutics,” TSRI, (Multi-Lab) 1992- 2010
  5. AutoDock, most widely distributed, used and cited drug discovery software, (Olson Lab) TSRI, 2010
  6. FightAIDS@Home, first volunteer distributed biomedical computing project, (Entropia) TSRI, 2000
  7. FightAIDS@Home, largest user of IBM’s World Community Grid, with over 1.5 Million CPUs registered, (Olson Lab and IBM), 2010
  8. Honored by Resolution of the California State Legislature for FightAIDS@Home, TSRI, (IBM) 2006
  9. Distinguished Senior Fellow, Institute of Advanced Study, Durham University, UK, 2007
  10. Mentoring over 50 Postdoctoral Fellows, Graduate Students and Interns from around the world (Olson Lab), 1982-2010

Scientific Visualization

  1. Earliest interactive computer graphics visualizations of the molecular structure of a virus, (Harrison Lab) Harvard, 1979
  2. GRAMPS, early general purpose interactive graphics software for scientific visualization and interactive production of computer animation, (O’Donnell) Lawrence Berkeley Lab, 1980-81.
  3. “TBSV”, an 8 minute computer animated film, explaining the molecular structure of a virus particle, selected for SIGGRAPH Electronic Theater, Olson, LBL1981
  4. “ADAM: A Dial Activated Man”, 5 minute computer animated film, possibly the first human motion capture computer animation (data from Muybridge’s human motion studies, 1887), selected for SIGGRAPH Electronic Theater, (O’Donnell) LBL, 1981
  5. First OmniMAX/IMAX computer animation segments, produced for Horizon’s Pavilion at Walt Disney EPCOT Center, (Garrick), TSRI, 1983
  6. Recognized as a Computer Graphics Pioneer for molecular visualizations and interviewed In the film “The Story of Computer Graphics”, 1999
  7. First augmented reality enhanced autofabricated molecular models, (Olson Lab), TSRI 2005
  8. Self-Assembling Virus model, Protein folding Kit, (Olson Lab), 2005-2008

Educational Outreach and Professional Service

  1. Secondary School Science Teacher, Dwamene Akenten School, Ghana West Africa, 1968-1969
  2. Produced and distributed a series of 6 widely shown films on the structure of biological molecules, TSRI (Olson Lab), 1983-1990
  3. Over 100 Invited lectures on Molecular Modeling and Visualization around the World 1981-2010
  4. Founding member of the San Diego SuperComputer Center, Steering Committee member, 1985-1997
  5. Founding member of the National Partnership for Advanced Computational Infrastructure (NPACI), Executive Board Member, 1997-2004
  6. Developed materials and taught hands-on practicals with tangible models for TSRI Graduate Students, on protein folding and multi-molecular structure assembly, 2005-present
  7. Chair and organizer, Gordon Research Conference on Visualization in Science and Education, (Ainsworth) Oxford University, U.K., 2009
  8. Molecular Visualizations displayed in art and science museums in the U.S. U.K. and Europe 1990-2010