Dr. Baer is Senior Policy Analyst in RAND's Science and Technology Division. His current research centers on
implications of the Internet and related information technology developments for higher education and electronic
commerce. He also analyzes other public policy and business implications of communications, information and
educational technologies. He has published widely in the fields of media, communications, information technology,
energy, and science and technology policy.
Dr. Baer serves as Vice-Chair of the Telecommunications Policy Research Conference and as a member of a National Research Council panel studying the evolution and future impacts of the Internet. In 1994 he was appointed to the Governor's Council on Information Technology for the State of California. He is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, where he chaired the Industrial Science Section, and a member of the International Institute of Communications and other professional societies. He currently serves on the IEEE Committee on Communications and Information Policy and the Editorial Board of Telecommunications Policy, as well as on the Advisory Boards of the U.S. Committee for the International Institute of Applied Systems Analysis, the Columbia University Institute for Tele-Information, CALSTART, the Los Angeles Learning Center Network Project and The Children's Partnership. He is a Trustee of the KCRW Public Radio Foundation.
Dr. Baer holds a B.S. from the California Institute of Technology and a Ph.D. degree in physics from the University of Wisconsin, where he received a special award for excellence in teaching. He also was selected as a European Community Visitor by the Commission and Parliament of the European Communities.