JO L HUSBANDS-ROSENBERG

On November 30, 2022, Dr. Jo L. Husbands-Rosenberg passed away at age 74, in her adopted hometown of Washington, DC, after a long fight against a range of illnesses.

Born in Puyallup, Washington, just south of Tacoma, Dr. Husbands-Rosenberg became a world-traveling fixture in the global security, science and technology fields, perhaps most prominently as a Scholar and Senior Project Director at the National Academies of Science, where she worked beginning in 1986.

A brilliant woman who shattered many glass ceilings, Dr. Husbands-Rosenberg served as the Academies' representative on the multinational Biosecurity Working Group of the InterAcademy Partnership network. She also served for 15 years as Director of the Academies' Committee on International Security and Arms Control and its Working Group on Biological Weapons Control.

Husbands-Rosenberg held a Ph.D in Political Science from the University of Minnesota, a Masters in International Public Policy from the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies, and an undergraduate Political Science degree from Washington State University. Scholarship deeply mattered to her, and for many years she was an adjunct professor at Georgetown
University's Security Studies Program.

Most years, Dr. Husbands-Rosenberg flew more than 100,000 miles; her trips would regularly take her to locations including The Hague, St. Petersburg, Beijing, Uganda, [1] Brazil – she spoke Portuguese - and Irvine, California. When she was home, she gardened, and loved visiting regional botanical gardens.

Her loving husband of 46 years, Peter Rosenberg, passed away in December, 2020. The couple – along with their beloved keeshonds – had shared a Capitol Hill rowhouse, near Marion Park, for more than four decades. The home was filled with books, folk art and souvenirs that the couple picked up from their travels: nesting dolls, masks, cologne, art and books.

Dr. Husbands-Rosenberg loved her work, and her professional portfolio – including her many books and publications about topics such as nuclear war, biosecurity and climate change – exemplified the wide range of crucial issues that she worked so well on, often behind-the-scenes, other times, more publicly.

Among her myriad other professional achievements, Dr. Husbands-Rosenberg was a Fellow of the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry, an inaugural member and Chair of the Advisory Board on Education and Outreach of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons and a member of the editorial board of Politics and the Life Sciences.

Dr. Jo L. Husbands-Rosenberg is survived by her brother- and sister-in-law, Michael Rosenberg and Pat Sears of Winooski, VT; her nephew Jeremy Rosenberg of Los Angeles, CA and her niece, Reba Rosenberg of Belmont, MA. In Jo's memory, please consider making a donation to Women in International Security, an organization of great importance to Jo. Services will be held at a later date.