Tam Dao pulled up the calendar on his desktop and quickly counted the weeks since he had started at Rice. He flashed a surprised smile upon learning that he had been serving in his role as Assistant Vice President for Research Security for eight months. He thought it had been only six.
It’s understandable that time has flown for Tam since joining Rice. With the complex and rapidly changing federal regulatory landscape regarding best practices for research, his job is a busy one. As AVP, he provides wise guidance to Rice leadership, faculty, and a community of scholars on research security matters such as: collaborating with international partners, traveling overseas, and navigating federal mandates for recipients of federal funds. Though certainly fast-paced, this new role is a far cry from his most recent twelve-year stint as an FBI agent, where his days included administering polygraph tests and spearheading counterintelligence operations.
A look at Tam’s CV shows that his career has taken several unexpected turns—from earning his combined PhD in Counseling Psychology and Human Systems and teaching classes at the University of Houston, to serving the country as an FBI subject matter expert in personality assessment and counterintelligence, to where he is now. Each of his roles are tied together by a common thread: his ardent desire to understand and connect with the people who surround him. Tam’s emphasis on interpersonal engagement and personal connection is exemplified through his academic interest in psychology, his experience in the FBI, and now, engaging with faculty to provide guidance on conducting research in a safer and more secure way.
When asked about his favorite part of Rice and his job so far, he emphasized the brilliance of the Rice community that he gets to witness firsthand. Tam revels in being invited to labs to learn from professors about the cutting-edge research taking place on and off campus. Admiring their intellect and the discipline they demonstrate in solving complex problems, he points to interacting with faculty as a highlight of his work.
Though the Rice community has been exceedingly welcoming, Tam explained that some community members may become tentative when they learn of his FBI background. He emphasized that in his role as AVP, he provides guidance to faculty on research security regulations, including regulation of foreign talent recruitment programs, and advice on managing potential government inquiries. He emphasized that his job is to support researchers and Rice's academic mission, particularly in consideration of planned growth of the research enterprise.
Tam’s unique experiences equip him to demystify the research security realm for our community. He sees himself as a sort of translator, helping faculty navigate potential areas of government inquiry. Education and awareness is central to this demystification, and he regularly meets with community members to discuss potential risks of international engagements deemed by the federal government to be “malign.” He emphasized that his job is to support researchers and Rice's academic mission, particularly in consideration of planned growth of the research enterprise.
As part of this work to mature our research security program, Rice has recently introduced Policy 335, Foreign Talent Recruitment Program Policy that distinguishes between allowable and prohibited foreign programs, positions, or activities with the Office of Research Security serving as a key office to support compliance with this policy.
The conversation with Tam returned often to a central theme: balancing the planned expansion of our research collaborations with an increasingly stringent regulatory landscape. Tam appreciates the importance of innovation, something that must be balanced with—and not stifled because of—research security. “Sometimes, we must engage in risky behaviors,” Tam elaborated, “which is okay as long as we know what the risks are and put in safeguards. We want to collaborate in a way that professors, Rice, and the community benefits.”
If you wish to contact Tam, you can email him at tkdao@rice.edu or call him at 713-348-3323.
Paige Russell is the Compliance and Enterprise Risk Specialist in the Office of Ethics, Compliance and Enterprise Risk.