ARS Administrators

Simon Liu
ARS Administrator

Dr. Liu served as Acting Administrator since June 2022, and prior to that served as Associate Administrator for Research Management and Operations since February 2015.

He previously served as Director of the National Agricultural Library (NAL), which serves as the central library for the U.S. Department of Agriculture and is one of the four National Libraries of the United States. NAL is world's largest and most accessible research library specializing in agriculture.

Before joining NAL, Simon Liu served as Associate Director of the National Library of Medicine (NLM) and Director of the NLM Computer and Communications System. Prior to his service at NLM, he held leadership positions with the U.S. Departments of Justice and Treasury, following work in the private sector where he led information system development and space mission studies to support NASA mission and operations.

He attended university in his native Taiwan and pursued graduate studies in the United States, where he earned master's degrees in Computer Science, Business Administration, and Government from Indiana University, the University of Maryland, and Johns Hopkins University. He has earned two doctoral degrees: an Ed.D in Higher Education Administration and a Ph.D. in Computer Science from George Washington University. He also serves as an adjunct faculty member with graduate school appointments at several of these institutions.

Simon Liu is active in professional societies and associations and have served as the Editor-in-Chief of an information technology magazine and editor of four journals in the past 20 years. Simon has published a book and more than 80 book chapters, journal articles, and conference papers.

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Pamela Starke-Reed
Acting Associate Administrator, National Programs

Dr. Starke-Reed is the ARS Deputy Administrator for Nutrition, Food Safety and Quality and also serves as the Ethics Officer and Scientific Integrity Officer for ARS. She came to ARS after 26 years of service with the National Institutes of Health (NIH), where she served for 12 years as Deputy Director of the Division of Nutrition Research Coordination and provided guidance for NIH research on nutritional sciences, obesity, and physical activity. She is a graduate of Drexel University Medical School, where she obtained a degree in pathology. Dr. Starke-Reed is well known throughout the human nutrition community for her oversight of research to develop a more comprehensive understanding of how we interact with food, what factors influence our food choices, and how our dietary choices, genetics, and environment lead to specific health-related outcomes.

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Joon Park
Associate Administrator, Research Operations and Management

Mr. Joon Park was appointed as ARS Associate Administrator for Research Operations & Management in June 2023. Prior to this appointment, Mr. Park served as the Research, Education and Economics (REE) Mission Area Chief Operating Officer (COO) and the ARS Deputy Administrator for Administrative & Financial Management (AFM) since 2012.

Mr. Park has held other positions with the USDA Agricultural Research Service to include serving as the ARS Human Resources Director in Beltsville, MD from 2010 –2012 and as the ARS South Atlantic Area Deputy Area Director for Business Management in Athens, GA from 2007 – 2010. Mr. Park began his Federal career with the Naval Air Systems Command in Patuxent River, MD through the Acquisition Intern Program in 1996 and served in various Logistics Management positions through 2007.

Mr. Park received a Presidential Rank Award as Meritorious Executive in 2022. He graduated from Liberty University in 1996 with a B.S. degree in Government and received his Master of Business Administration (MBA) from The Johns Hopkins University in 2002. In addition, Mr. Park is a graduate of the Federal Executive Institute in Charlottesville, VA, the National Security Studies Program at the George Washington University in Washington, D.C, the Key Executive Leadership Certificate Program at the American University in Washington D.C, and the USDA Senior Executive Service Candidate Development Program (SESCDP).