If anyone has the right stuff to set up a system to manage the new wave of federal export control regulations that is crashing down on Vanderbilt and the nation’s other research universities, it is Marcia E. Williams.
Williams, who has served as an assistant director of sponsored research at Vanderbilt since 2006, was appointed to fill the newly created position of assistant director, export compliance. In this position, she will develop and implement a new export management system designed to allow the university and medical center to comply with the complex body of U.S. Export Control laws and regulations that have been substantially reinterpreted and tightened since 9/11.
"I’ve been in university administration for almost 27 years now and have been involved in the implementation of a variety of different federal regulations," said John Childress, director of Vanderbilt’s Division of Sponsored Research, "and this is, by far, the most difficult set of federal regulations to implement that I’ve ever encountered."
Williams came to Vanderbilt with a 15-year career as an airline pilot, along with a law degree and considerable expertise in areas such as pensions, medical malpractice, executive compensation, training and software development. She even helped a law firm where she was clerking set up a corporate flight department while attending law school at the University of Illinois.
After obtaining her law degree in 1985, she moved to Arizona to work as a flight and classroom instructor at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University. At the same time, working as an attorney, she developed computer software for administering pensions for a commercial insurance company. In 1989 she got a job as a pilot with United Airlines. In addition to flying, she assisted in the development of training courses and safety videos for pilots, flight attendants and dispatchers.
Although she loved flying, "When the airline decided to take away our pensions, I decided it was time to do something else," Williams said. She left her pilot position in 2004 and set up her own aviation law and consulting company.
Williams is looking forward to the challenge posed by the new export control regulations: "I find it an interesting, challenging and very relevant area."
Since the days of the Cold War, the United States has had various regulations restricting the export of sensitive technology to other countries. In the past, this has primarily centered on the physical export of high-tech computer chips, advanced weapons systems and other technology that could be used against the country. It has also included "dual use" technology that has legitimate commercial applications but that can be adapted for military purposes. This has not been a major concern of research universities, however, because their activities were generally exempt under a "fundamental research exemption."
Since 9/11, however, the regulations are being applied increasingly to information as well as hardware. They do not apply just to devices and data that researchers take abroad with them. It is also being applied to the access that researchers provide to foreign nationals, both students and visitors, in their labs at home. So you don’t have to leave the country to get into trouble. The regulations have become increasingly complicated, with different technologies restricted to different groups of countries.
"This is serious stuff," Childress emphasized. "Violations can involve significant fines and even jail time."
Setting up a management system that is "as unburdensome and unobtrusive as possible" is Williams’ goal. Likely elements of the system will be a training program, a website to help researchers determine if they have an export control issue and a record-keeping system. She will have the benefit of the recommendations of a team of export control consultants from Price Waterhouse Coopers, who have spent the past year reviewing the university’s current practices and procedures.
The university will have a significant head start because Childress and Mark Dorminy in sponsored research have developed a Web-based tool called ListVUe that helps people find relevant information in the U.S. Department of Commerce’s export control website. The program is so effective that several other companies have either purchased copies or are reviewing it for their own use.
Media Contact: David F. Salisbury, (615) 322-NEWS
david.salisbury@vanderbilt.edu