As a senior technology strategy officer at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Steven B. Buchsbaum (PhD, Physics ’90) develops and manages a large portfolio of grants and contracts as one of his many responsibilities for the foundation.  He gives one key piece of advice to students or scientists in their career field: “The most valuable skill you can obtain is the ability to write well in the English language, whether it is being able to persuasively present yourself, or being able to write a proposal that is of any interest to anybody that is not an expert.  It is really the single greatest asset that helps to really differentiate people.”

“The most valuable skill you can obtain is the ability to write well in the English language, whether it is persuasively being able to present yourself, or being able to write a proposal that is of any interest to anybody that is not an expert.  It is really the single greatest asset that helps to really differentiate people.”

Guided by the belief that every life has equal value the Gates Foundation, headquartered in Seattle, has since 2000 dedicated its efforts to achieving equitable access to healthcare and education worldwide by supporting numerous projects in over one hundred countries. 

Buchsbaum received a M.S. and Ph.D. in physics from UCSD.  When he first came to UCSD, he was interested in the intersection of physics and policy around nuclear proliferation.  He promptly sought Herbert York, UCSD’s first chancellor and a professor emeritus of physics, and asked him how he would be able to get involved.  York told him his best option was to be an excellent physicist and worry about getting involved later.  Buchsbaum states that he did ultimately get involved in those type of issues by selecting positions in government that were not exclusively tied to his training as a physicist.

As a student, while attending UCSD from 1982-1990, memories of campus life for Buchsbaum evolved around the ocean in one fashion or another.

“My advisor, Kenneth Watson, (now an emeritus professor of physics), was truly an outstanding influence upon my studies at UCSD,” he recalled. “My research work was linked between the Physics Department and the Scripps Institution of Oceanography in studies of surface waves in the ocean generated by everything from a Coast Guard cutter to a large Navy aircraft carrier passing through.”

He also enjoyed his involvement with the Scuba Diving Club at Scripps. After finishing his Ph.D., Buchsbaum spent 11 years as a senior scientific analyst at Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC), where he was team leader or key contributor for over 20 advanced technology programs.  He also served as a program manager in the Special Projects Office of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and was responsible for the development of key programs in sensor defense against biological weapons, technologies to counter use of underground facilities; and other classified work. “The training as a physicist is a disciplined way of looking and thinking about things no matter what you are involved in” he says.  “I have spent most of my time professionally taking a very superficial or limited look at the science of something that I am able to do trained as a physicist and tie it into more of a general application of product development.”

“The training as a physicist is a disciplined way of looking and thinking about things no matter what you are involved in” he says.  “I have spent most of my time professionally taking a very superficial or limited look at the science of something that I am able to do trained as a physicist and tie it into more of a general application of product development.”

Buchsbaum’s work at DARPA was to link basic and mid-stream research to create products that change the way business is done and in this case for national security.  DARPA’s objective is investing in science and technology for evolutionary change in national security affairs.

In some ways this was a direct link to Buchsbaum’s work as a founding member of the Department of Homeland Security’s Advanced Research Projects Agency (HSARPA) created in 2003, which was to invest in science and technology for evolutionary change in Homeland Security.

 “Much to my surprise working in the federal government was a uniquely rewarding and probably the most incredibly educational experience I have ever had,” he adds.  “In choosing a career path it is always better to pick the riskier one.”

“Much to my surprise working in the federal government was a uniquely rewarding and probably the most incredibly educational experience I have ever had.  In choosing a career path it is always better to pick the riskier one.”

“In many ways that is what the Gates Foundation is trying to do in a different domain which is to invest in science and technology for evolutionary change in global health to try and create greater equity in health.” 

Buchsbaum decided to leave government when the opportunity to work for the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation was presented to him.

“I felt it was a once in a lifetime opportunity and we packed up from Washington, D. C. and moved to Seattle.  My work here has the feel of being in a unique place in time where an opportunity exists to have an impact that is positive in the world and potentially have resources that are sufficient to make a change.  I am working with a truly outstanding group of people that are committed to do the best that they can strategically through a very wide and complex set of partners. When mistakes are made we work to figure out what went wrong and to correct them.”

“My work here has the feel of being in a unique place in time and an opportunity to have an impact that is positive in the world and potentially resources that are sufficient to make a change.”

“The immensity of the problems that the Gates Foundation is facing has been very challenging for me.  Essentially trying to provide a more equitable and uniform access to healthcare across the globe.  On the other extreme are the challenges of trying to accelerate research; whether identifying the best projects or trying to get scientific and technical teams to collaborate by sharing data or working closer in ways that may not further their own individual interests, but further the goal of getting products into the field. ”

“The challenging projects for me at the Gates Foundation concern global health and early discovery research which is essentially looking at the barriers in health.  This is approximately a $450M investment by our foundation and other partner foundations.  We are looking at practical delivery systems for vaccines to children; formulations that are needle-free and do not require refrigeration; ways to create vaccines that harness the genomic era and apply it to diseases that have been neglected for the last 20-40 years. Because of the lack of substantial financial rewards in producing products in this area, prominent diseases like tuberculosis or tropical parasitic diseases generally go unnoticed.  Another challenge is creating better diagnostics and ways to monitor health and taking advanced developed-world science and to make a more appropriate product so that it would have more impact.”

Buchsbaum is uniquely qualified to manage the balancing act in bridging the critical role of science and society in today’s world and develop strategies. He also received his masters degree in Pacific international affairs from the Graduate School of International Relations and Pacific Studies (IRPS) at UCSD in 1997. 

“The MPIA program at IRPS is an absolutely wonderful program which really strives to integrate the diverse areas of comparative public policy, international relations, international management and political science perspective into an understanding of what it takes to make organizations work.  This has been invaluable in my work at the Gates Foundation in helping scientists figure out what it takes to make their projects and organizations work better to meet whatever strategic objectives.”