CISAC
Stanford University
Encina Hall
Stanford, CA 94305-6165

mekosal@stanford.edu
(650) 724-5691 (voice)
(650) 723-0089 (fax)

Margaret E. Kosal was a 2004-2005 CISAC science fellow. Her research has explored a range of issues relating to biological and chemical terrorism and nonproliferation. Specific interests include the entanglement of emerging and dual-use technologies, such as nano- and biotechnology, that impact security concerns. Most recently, she has published research on proliferation and terrorist risks of nanotechnology and on an unaddressed issue of agricultural terrorism. She is currently leading a study of chemical and biological weapons detectors and the integration of policy and technical issues for civilian use. She has also investigated the unanticipated role of the public in chemical weapons destruction and their impact on an international arms control treaty.

Kosal received a bachelor's degree in chemistry from the University of Southern California in Los Angeles. For her doctoral work at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, she investigated the synthesis and the ensuing behavior of solid-state porphyrinic nanoporous networks, organic zeolites, resulting in the publication of seven papers and a book chapter. Her dissertation work was recognized by the Society of Porphyrin and Phthalocyanines. The American Chemical Society's Chemical and Engineering News named her Nature publication as the "Top 2002 Supramolecular Chemistry" research paper.

Kosal and three colleagues founded a high-tech start-up sensor company in early 2001, where she led research on the detection of explosives, chemical agents, and neuroactive compounds and initiated a project to detect bacterial biological warfare agents. She has also held positions at Northwestern University's Feinburg School of Medicine and at the Monterey Institute of International Studies' Center for Nonproliferation Studies (CNS).

Beyond research, Kosal is an accomplished skydiver.