About

Science and Communication

Our Vision

Of all the species on the planet, Man is probably the most adaptable. In the past that usually meant dealing with a few, slowly changing variables. But now the changes are coming at a new and staggering pace, and many, if not most are the result of our own relentless innovation and experimentation.

Ever increasing complexity, ever accelerating change—environmental change, healthcare change, technological change. All rendering critical the need for society to understand and to help guide science to make wise choices in multiple key areas.

Novim was founded in January of 2008 at the Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics, at UC Santa Barbara, California.

Its charter: To assemble teams of scientists to render complex issues comprehensible to non-scientists.

The process itself is complex—can a dispassionate, non-agenda driven explanation of highly emotional and technical subjects yield a better informed public that is more inclined to reasonable dialog?

Novim is committed to being a major player in this ongoing process.

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Michael Ditmore
Executive Director

Michael Ditmore

Co-founder and Executive Director of Novim, began his business career with IBM as a systems engineer. After receiving an MBA from Stanford in 1970, he relocated to Germany as Director of European Operations for Canberra Industries. Following the sale of his division in 1972, he returned to California, joining a startup–ROLM Corporation, where he served as a regional manager for sales. The company was sold to IBM in 1984. Michael subsequently founded and sold 2 high technology medical device companies.

In 1995 he co-founded and served as Chairman and CEO of the Systems and Software Consortium, a non-profit association of 150 companies whose first project was the creation of the Pacific Technology Center in Goleta, the largest high tech incubator in southern California at the time.

Professional Associations – Michael currently serves on the Director’s Council of the Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics at UCSB, and is a life member of the USAF Academy Association of Graduates, the Stanford Alumni Association and Stanford Associates. He is a past member of the Board of Directors of Junior Achievement of Southern California; the Executive Board of Santa Barbara Partners in Education; and the Stanford Business School Alumni Association Board. He has served on advisory boards for the NASA Ames Incubator and Los Alamos National Laboratory.

Jim Knight

Co-founder and Novim’s Executive Vice President, was also a co-founder in the start-up of Amber Engineering, Inc. in December of 1981. Over twelve years the company grew to 200 people and was acquired by Raytheon Company in 1992. He retired as Senior Vice President in 1994.

Jim and three other partners subsequently started Indigo Systems Corporation in March of 1996, which grew to 230 employees before being acquired by FLIR Systems in January 2004.

Professional Associations – Jim served for 5 years as a member of the Board of Directors of the Santa Barbara Chamber of Commerce beginning in 1993 and later in a supporting role with the Government Relations Committee.

Jim currently serves on the Director’s Council of the Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics at UCSB, and is co- chair of the Government Relation Committee for the Goleta Chamber of Commerce. He served on the Board of Directors of UCSB’s Center for Entrepreneurship and Engineering Management, and currently serves on the steering committee for the South Coast Business and Technology Awards dinner sponsored by the Scholarship Foundation of Santa Barbara.

Ari Patrinos

Ari Patrinos is Chief Scientist, Director of Research and Chair of the Science Advisory Board at Novim.

Ari was previously Deputy Director, Research, NYU Center For Urban Science & Progress, Brooklyn, NY. Prior to that, he was President of Synthetic Genomics Inc., and Director of the Office of Biological and Environmental Research in the Department of Energy’s Office of Science, where he oversaw human and microbial genome research, structural biology, nuclear medicine and health effects and global climate change.

He is well known for his leading roles in the development of the U.S. Global Change Research Program and the U.S. Human Genome Project. In addition, Ari helped create the Joint Genome Institute and developed and launched the Genomes to Life Program, a research program dedicated to developing technologies to use microbes for innovative solutions to energy and environmental challenges.

He received his undergraduate degree from the National Technical University of Athens, and Ph.D from Northwestern University.

Professional Associations – recipient of 3 Presidential Rank Awards and 2 Secretary of Energy Gold Awards. Ari is a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the American Meteorological Society and a member of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers and the American Geophysical Union.

Keith Carlson

Keith Carlson, Technology Director for the Novim Group, has led studies, worked as a team member and led  technology development for the organization.  He is currently the program manager and Novim’s technical lead on a project with the University of California Museum of Paleontology (UCMP) on “Understanding Global Change”.  In this project, Novim is working with UCMP and other organizations on the development of curriculum to teach climate change in all aspects of K-12 education.  He is also the lead investigator on artificial intelligence at the Novim Group.  Keith recently was the project lead for an interactive analysis model and web/mobile application for public employee pension systems.  This application was instrumental in bringing interactivity to the analysis of public employee pensions. Previous models took hours or days to evaluate each scenario but this application allowed interested users and policy makers to examine changes to pension parameters in seconds. 

 

Keith works in all areas of technology, leading diverse groups spread across the globe.  He has worked in numerous multi-national groups and has deep ties to other world-wide technology leaders, has led major efforts on the significant technology platforms and is a vocal advocate for cloud technologies in organizations of all sizes.  He has worked with cloud technologies from Amazon, Google, Rackspace and others.

Michael Ditmore

Co-founder and Executive Director of Novim, began his business career with IBM as a systems engineer. After receiving an MBA from Stanford in 1970, he relocated to Germany as Director of European Operations for Canberra Industries. Following the sale of his division in 1972, he returned to California, joining a startup–ROLM Corporation, where he served as a regional manager for sales. The company was sold to IBM in 1984. Michael subsequently founded and sold 2 high technology medical device companies.

In 1995 he co-founded and served as Chairman and CEO of the Systems and Software Consortium, a non-profit association of 150 companies whose first project was the creation of the Pacific Technology Center in Goleta, the largest high tech incubator in southern California at the time.

Professional Associations – Michael currently serves on the Director’s Council of the Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics at UCSB, and is a life member of the USAF Academy Association of Graduates, the Stanford Alumni Association and Stanford Associates. He is a past member of the Board of Directors of Junior Achievement of Southern California; the Executive Board of Santa Barbara Partners in Education; and the Stanford Business School Alumni Association Board. He has served on advisory boards for the NASA Ames Incubator and Los Alamos National Laboratory.

Jim Knight

Co-founder and Novim’s Executive Vice President, was also a co-founder in the start-up of Amber Engineering, Inc. in December of 1981. Over twelve years the company grew to 200 people and was acquired by Raytheon Company in 1992. He retired as Senior Vice President in 1994.

Jim and three other partners subsequently started Indigo Systems Corporation in March of 1996, which grew to 230 employees before being acquired by FLIR Systems in January 2004.

Professional Associations – Jim served for 5 years as a member of the Board of Directors of the Santa Barbara Chamber of Commerce beginning in 1993 and later in a supporting role with the Government Relations Committee.

Jim currently serves on the Director’s Council of the Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics at UCSB, and is co- chair of the Government Relation Committee for the Goleta Chamber of Commerce. He served on the Board of Directors of UCSB’s Center for Entrepreneurship and Engineering Management, and currently serves on the steering committee for the South Coast Business and Technology Awards dinner sponsored by the Scholarship Foundation of Santa Barbara.

Ari Patrinos

Ari Patrinos is Chief Scientist, Director of Research and Chair of the Science Advisory Board at Novim.

Ari was previously Deputy Director, Research, NYU Center For Urban Science & Progress, Brooklyn, NY. Prior to that, he was President of Synthetic Genomics Inc., and Director of the Office of Biological and Environmental Research in the Department of Energy’s Office of Science, where he oversaw human and microbial genome research, structural biology, nuclear medicine and health effects and global climate change.

He is well known for his leading roles in the development of the U.S. Global Change Research Program and the U.S. Human Genome Project. In addition, Ari helped create the Joint Genome Institute and developed and launched the Genomes to Life Program, a research program dedicated to developing technologies to use microbes for innovative solutions to energy and environmental challenges.

He received his undergraduate degree from the National Technical University of Athens, and Ph.D from Northwestern University.

Professional Associations – recipient of 3 Presidential Rank Awards and 2 Secretary of Energy Gold Awards. Ari is a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the American Meteorological Society and a member of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers and the American Geophysical Union.

Keith Carlson

Keith Carlson, Technology Director for the Novim Group, has led studies, worked as a team member and led  technology development for the organization.  He is currently the program manager and Novim’s technical lead on a project with the University of California Museum of Paleontology (UCMP) on “Understanding Global Change”.  In this project, Novim is working with UCMP and other organizations on the development of curriculum to teach climate change in all aspects of K-12 education.  He is also the lead investigator on artificial intelligence at the Novim Group.  Keith recently was the project lead for an interactive analysis model and web/mobile application for public employee pension systems.  This application was instrumental in bringing interactivity to the analysis of public employee pensions. Previous models took hours or days to evaluate each scenario but this application allowed interested users and policy makers to examine changes to pension parameters in seconds. 

 

Keith works in all areas of technology, leading diverse groups spread across the globe.  He has worked in numerous multi-national groups and has deep ties to other world-wide technology leaders, has led major efforts on the significant technology platforms and is a vocal advocate for cloud technologies in organizations of all sizes.  He has worked with cloud technologies from Amazon, Google, Rackspace and others.