Piper Mullins is the program manager for the Pan-Smithsonian Cryo-Initiative (PSCI) and past-president of the Board of the International Society for Biological and Environmental Repositories (ISBER). As the program manager for PSCI, she oversees the development of the Smithsonian biorepository network to integrate, standardize, and manage biological frozen collections (i.e. 'biobanks') and their needs. Mullins brings her information management expertise to collaboratively improve the Smithsonian's biobanking information systems, standards, personnel resources, equipment and space, and the use of biobanks in the research life cycle.
Piper Mullins's professional career has spanned more than a decade in the fields of information management and biobanking. In her early career, Mullins collaborated on the development of the Federal Science Repository Service at Information International Associates and managed the digital repository at the University of Tennessee Libraries (TRACE). She is currently active in the biobanking industry's leading forum (ISBER), and has held leadership roles including ISBER director-at-large, Treasurer, and President of the Board of Directors and vice-chair of the ISBER membership committee. She also acts as a Smithsonian representative to the US government's delegation to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD).
Mullins received her master's degree in information sciences from the University of Tennessee, where she focused on information management and business analysis for database design. As a graduate student, she reviewed environmental data sharing practices with the University of Tennessee, Oak Ridge National Lab node of DataOne.
