Dorothy Aronson, the National Science Foundation’s (NSF) former chief data officer (CDO) and chief AI officer (CAIO), has left the agency, an NSF spokesperson confirmed to MeriTalk.
Aronson – who also served as the agency’s chief information officer (CIO) for over five years before transitioning out of the role to handle the data and areas – left NSF back in May, the spokesperson said.
Thu Williams is currently acting as NSF CAIO. According to his LinkedIn, Williams joined NSF in September 2024 as a data and AI engagement and adoption lead.
Aronson served as CIO until Terry Carpenter took over the role in January 2024. That month, NSF announced that Aronson took on an additional role as the assistant CIO for artificial intelligence – in addition to her duties as CAIO and CDO.
During her tenure, she helped oversee NSF’s AI Pilot program and the development of a new chatbot.
In an exclusive interview with MeriTalk in 2023, Aronson also shared that she helped develop Hopper, an internal central repository for NSF creations. The tool is named after Grace Hopper, who was a U.S. Navy admiral and IT and innovation pioneer.
“I can see the beauty in technology solutions. My primary motive is to make things work, so I guess I am an architect,” Aronson told MeriTalk. “And when I take the pieces that are there, and put them together, then that’s what a thing like Hopper is. That’s where my career has always been in trying to make something work the best it can work.”
Aronson’s departure comes after the departure of Sethuraman Panchanathan, the agency’s former director, and the appointment of Clyde Richards Jr. as the agency’s new CIO.
In April, NSF announced the termination of awards and funding opportunities that do not align with the agency’s research priorities under the Trump administration. This included research on diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) and misinformation/disinformation.