< Cabinet Members and Deans

The chief of staff and associate vice president for policy and planning leads a steering committee overseeing EMPAC, which guides its program development and implementation. He oversees the strategic priorities of the Rensselaer Technology Park in North Greenbush and the Rensselaer Office of Intellectual Property, and the Rensselaer Office of Intellectual Property, Technology Transfer, and New Ventures, which includes the Office of Technology Commercialization and the Rensselaer Incubator Program.

Laban L. Coblentz was most recently strategic adviser to and communications specialist for the director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). Prior to joining the IAEA, Coblentz worked for Connecticut Senator Joseph Lieberman as a Congressional Fellow on the U.S. Senate Committee on Governmental Affairs from 1999 to 2000. He was also senior adviser to President Jackson from 1997 to 1999 when she served as Chairman of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC).