Gary Corbett is the president of the Professional Institute of the Public Service of Canada (PIPSC) and the chair of the 2nd Science Policy Symposium – Public Science in Canada.

He has over 30 years of experience in the public and private sectors. As an employee of Natural Resources Canada, he worked as a scientist conducting operational research in the coal mining industry in Cape Breton. Relocating his family to Ottawa following the close of the Canadian Cape Breton coal industry in 1998, he focused his attention on policy development as it affects the role of public science in decision making.

Corbett holds a diploma in chemical engineering technology and a bachelor of science from the University of Cape Breton, as well as a master’s degree in mining engineering from McGill University. He is a member of the Ethics Practitioners Association of Canada.

• Letter to the Editor (April 21, 2010)