{{Short description|American anthropologist and rugby union player}} {{Infobox scientist | name = Adam H. Russell | image = Adam H. Russell 2022.jpg | caption = Russell in 2022 | fields = Applied anthropology, program management | workplaces = Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity<br>DARPA<br>University of Maryland<br>Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health<br>University of Southern California Information Sciences Institute<br>NIST/US AI Safety Institute | alma_mater = Duke University<br>University of Oxford }}
'''Adam H. Russell''' is an American anthropologist who serves as Chief Vision Officer of the U.S. AI Safety Institute.<ref name=":99">{{Cite web |date=2024-04-16 |title=U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo Announces Expansion of U.S. AI Safety Institute Leadership Team |url=https://www.commerce.gov/news/press-releases/2024/04/us-commerce-secretary-gina-raimondo-announces-expansion-us-ai-safety |access-date= 2024-04-16 |website=commerce.gov |language=en}}{{PD-notice}}</ref> He previously served as the acting deputy director of the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health.
== Life == Russell completed a Bachelor of Arts in Cultural Anthropology from Duke University, and an M.Phil. and a D.Phil. in Social Anthropology from University of Oxford, where he was a Rhodes Scholar.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |date=2022-05-25 |title=HHS Secretary Becerra Establishes ARPA-H within NIH, Names Adam H. Russell, D.Phil. Acting Deputy Director |url=https://www.hhs.gov/about/news/2022/05/25/hhs-secretary-becerra-establishes-arpa-h-within-nih-names-adam-h-russell-phil-acting-deputy-director.html |archive-url=https://archive.today/20220913132919/https://www.hhs.gov/about/news/2022/05/25/hhs-secretary-becerra-establishes-arpa-h-within-nih-names-adam-h-russell-phil-acting-deputy-director.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=September 13, 2022 |access-date=2022-10-07 |website=HHS.gov |language=en}}{{PD-notice}}</ref> He played with the Oxford University RFC for four varsity matches and represented the United States on the US Men's National Team, becoming Eagle #368. He also worked with the United States national rugby union team, and worked as high performance director for the United States women's national rugby union team in the 2014 and 2017 Women's Rugby World Cups.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web |title=Adam Russell, D.Phil. {{!}} UMD ARLIS Website |url=https://www.arlis.umd.edu/adam-russell-dphil |access-date=2022-10-07 |website=www.arlis.umd.edu}}</ref>
Russell began in industry, where he was a senior scientist and principal investigator on a wide range of human performance and social science research projects and provided strategic assessments for a number of different government organizations.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":2">{{Cite web |last=Whooley |first=Sean |date=2022-05-26 |title=Maryland scientist to head NIH research projects agency for health |url=https://www.drugdiscoverytrends.com/maryland-nih-advanced-research-agency-health/ |access-date=2022-10-07 |website=Drug Discovery and Development |language=en-US}}</ref> In 2009, Russell joined the Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity (IARPA) as a program manager.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":2" /> He developed and managed a number of high-risk, high-payoff research projects for the Office of the Director of National Intelligence.<ref name=":0" /> Russell joined DARPA as a program manager in July 2015.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":2" /> His work there focused on advancing capabilities for understanding and tackling problems in the Human Domain,<ref>{{Cite web |last=Russell |first=Austin Branch, Ed Cardon, Devin Ellis, Adam |date=2021-06-14 |title=We Ignore the Human Domain at Our Own Peril |url=https://mwi.westpoint.edu/we-ignore-the-human-domain-at-our-own-peril/ |access-date=2024-05-10 |website=Modern War Institute |language=en-US}}</ref> including the creation of new experimental platforms and tools to facilitate discovery, quantification and "big validation" of fundamental measures, research, and tools in social science, behavioral science and human performance.<ref name=":0" /> His term at DARPA ended in 2020, when he left to become the Chief Scientist for the Applied Research Laboratory for Intelligence and Security<ref>{{Cite web |title=HOME {{!}} UMD ARLIS Website |url=https://www.arlis.umd.edu/ |access-date=2024-05-10 |website=www.arlis.umd.edu}}</ref> at the University of Maryland.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1" />
In 2022, while still at ARLIS, HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra selected Russell to serve as the acting deputy director for the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H). In that role, Russell helped lead the process to stand up ARPA-H before the inaugural director was selected and on-boarded.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2022-06-10 |title=Russell Named Acting Deputy Director for New Advanced Research Entity |url=https://nihrecord.nih.gov/2022/06/10/russell-named-acting-deputy-director-new-advanced-research-entity |access-date=2022-10-07 |website=NIH Record |language=EN}}{{PD-notice}}</ref>
In 2023, Russell became the Director of USC's Information Sciences Institute’s Artificial Intelligence Division, where he currently works.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2023-07-10 |title=Adam Russell to Lead USC Information Sciences Institute's Artificial Intelligence Division|url=https://viterbischool.usc.edu/news/2023/07/adam-russell-to-lead-usc-information-sciences-institutes-artificial-intelligence-division/ |access-date=2024-02-25 |website=viterbischool.usc.edu |language=en}}</ref> He also hosts USC ISI's "AI/nsiders podcast"<ref>{{Cite web |last1=director |first1=ISI’s Artificial Intelligence |last2=Russell |first2=anthropologist Adam |last3=Series |first3=Gets to Know His Researchers in This Weekly |date=2024-01-25 |title=AI/nsiders Podcast: Meet the Humans Behind the AI of ISI |url=https://www.isi.edu/news/62788/ai-nsiders-podcast-meet-the-humans-behind-the-ai-of-isi |access-date=2024-05-10 |website=USC Information Sciences Institute |language=en-US}}</ref> - which he launched on the premise that better understanding AI might also mean better understanding the humans working with, on, and around it.
As of April 2024, he is also serving in an IPA capacity as the Chief Vision Officer for NIST's [https://www.nist.gov/aisi AI Safety Institute],<ref>{{Cite web |date=2024-04-16 |title=U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo Announces Expansion of U.S. AI Safety Institute Leadership Team |url=https://www.commerce.gov/news/press-releases/2024/04/us-commerce-secretary-gina-raimondo-announces-expansion-us-ai-safety |access-date=2024-05-10 |website=U.S. Department of Commerce |language=en}}</ref> where he is supporting the stand up of the USAISI<ref>{{Cite journal |date=2023-10-26 |title=U.S. Artificial Intelligence Safety Institute |url=https://www.nist.gov/aisi |journal=NIST |language=en}}</ref> and its organizational vision, mission, strategy, and design in order to - in his words - help ensure that AI Safety leads to "the best of all possible worlds."
== References == {{reflist}} {{Include-NIH}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Russell, Adam H}} Category:Living people Category:Place of birth missing (living people) Category:Year of birth missing (living people) Category:University of Maryland, College Park faculty Category:21st-century American anthropologists Category:21st-century American scientists Category:Biden administration personnel Category:United States Department of Defense officials Category:National Institutes of Health people Category:Duke University alumni Category:Oxford University RFC players Category:American Rhodes Scholars Category:American rugby union players Category:United States international rugby union players Category:AI safety advocates