Marty Rubenstein

Having traveled to London before, Marty Rubenstein’s decision to return there to study abroad her junior year was an easy choice. Delving into her comparative studies classes on economics and law at the London School of Economics, Marty found her viewpoints challenged and worldview expanded. Returning to the U.S. with a new sense of independence and self-confidence, Marty embarked on a career in the federal government and earned a Master’s degree. After ten years in the White House in the Office of Management and Budget, Marty joined the National Science Foundation (NSF), a U.S. government agency that funds fundamental basic research in all the non-medical fields of science and engineering. Serving as CFO since 2010, Marty oversees the NSF’s budget of $7.5 billion (FY16), resulting in 11,000 awards supporting 350,000 U.S. research scientists and students annually. In our interview, Marty shares how study abroad has helped her succeed professionally and why one of the best souvenirs from London was coming home with a new name.

IES Abroad: As a student at American University, what motivated you to study in London?

Marty Rubenstein: I had been to London a couple of times, I was a huge Anglophile, and I loved to travel, so it was a simple decision for me. I had a lot of support from my parents because my mom had been a Fulbright Scholar. And my parents took us overseas when we were younger, so I was always eager to go as a student. American University only had one or two international programs, and I needed a program where I could get all the credits to transfer and support my double major. My college roommate went to IES Abroad Vienna, so I might have heard about it from her. I wanted a program that wasn’t constraining, that didn’t view this as a chaperoned tour experience where you weren’t allowed to go off campus. I wanted to be an adult, and if I skipped a class and went to Scotland for the weekend, that was my choice of a learning environment.

IES Abroad: What are one or two of your most impactful study abroad memories?

MR: Another girl and I shared a tutor for an economics class. We met with the professor periodically and read and wrote papers in between. It was like an independent study class. I remember before going that I had this impression, and we were told, that Americans were behind the Europeans academically and we had to be prepared to work harder. So when we began this tutorial class and one of the books the tutor wanted us to use was one I had used in my sophomore year at AU, I thought, “Well, they aren’t so far ahead of us after all!” 

We coalesced into groups of people we shared a flat with. Early on, one of the girls had to back out of the lease for the flat, and none of us had any extra money. We really needed to replace her.  We tried a variety of options to find another roommate, including going to the LSE and looking at the roommate board where we found a guy to take her place. He moved in, and he actually became one of my closest friends for decades. I returned to London year after year after college and stayed with him and his wife.

IES Abroad: How did you change most during your time in London?

MR: Traveling on your own and going to a program like IES Abroad helps you understand that you can figure out things on your own, you are an intelligent person, and you can make things work, no matter where you are and whether or not you speak the language. So there is that level of self-confidence you gain. And it gives you a great perspective on the U.S. and explodes certain viewpoints you have. It was great as a junior to get away from my college friends who thought they knew who I was when I was still figuring that out. One thing was that I didn’t like my name “Martha.” So when I went to London, I said “OK, now I can change my name,” and everyone in London called me “Marty.” So now I can tell when someone met me—before or after my time in London—by what they call me. I’ve been “Marty” ever since!

IES Abroad: In what ways did study abroad influence your career path? Were there skills learned while abroad that were particularly useful as you embarked on your Federal career?

MR: It was all very helpful because all the classes were comparative studies. It was about how the different European systems – economics and law – compare to the U.S. and how they do things differently. I really wanted to live overseas again, and I never did make that happen because I got into a career path and it became kind of like golden handcuffs to remain within the Federal system. I’ve been with the government for 36 years. When I finished my Master’s degree, I looked at the private sector, but it made more sense to stay within the Federal system. Once I decided to stay, I was focused on my career. I spent 10 years in the White House in the Office of Management and Budget with Reagan, Bush I, and Clinton before I came to the NSF. The fact I had classes at the LSE was a big deal on my resume, and I knew and worked with people who got Masters degrees from LSE. Becoming independent and having a different perspective on the U.S. was a really important outcome of study abroad. I had this idea before study abroad that other places had to be better than the U.S. Living in London and traveling later for an extended period to Australia and New Zealand, I realized there were many ways that the U.S. was actually ahead of the curve.

IES Abroad: You’ve been at the National Science Foundation for nearly 20 years, serving as CFO since 2010. What is the mission of the NSF and how did you get your start?

MR: The mission of the NSF is we fund basic research at American colleges and universities and help build the scientific infrastructure in this country whether it is in people, facilities, or knowledge. If you look at NASA or the Department of Energy – they do mission-oriented research. They fund the mission they are trying to accomplish, whereas we fund all non-medical scientific research. The NIH funds the medical research. We do everything else – zoology, astronomy, anthropology, math, physics, cybersecurity – any type of fundamental basic research. We’re trying to increase the knowledge base and discover and understand what we don’t yet understand. What’s great about NSF and why I came here is the mission is a simple one to understand and support. We have an essential impact on the welfare of this country.

IES Abroad: As CFO you oversee a budget of $7.5 billion (FY16), resulting in 11,000 awards supporting 350,000 U.S. research scientists and students annually. Tell us about your role.

MR: When I came the NSF, we had a $3.4 billion budget. We have doubled the budget in 20 years. As CFO, I have an organization of about 150 people, and we’re in charge of the fundamental business process that underlies what we do. Out of the whole budget, we send 94% to the research community. We have scientists who decide how that money is awarded. My organization is the one that makes the awards and legally obligates the government. I oversee the budget staff who request the money from Congress and allocate it, the grants officers who actually make the awards, and then those who financially oversee the awards and make sure the money is being spent appropriately at the academic institutions. It is the business of the agency that I oversee. Because most of the projects are awarded over a three to five year period, the outstanding portfolio we are managing this year is actually about $28 billion for over 42,000 active awards.

IES Abroad: What are the biggest challenges in your role at the NSF?

MR: To continuously improve operations and meet new legal requirements that come out of the White House and Congress. And to help fight reports in which our science investment is taken out of context and retitled to be a sound bite to make it look like the taxpayers are being fleeced, when they haven’t even talked to the scientists doing the research and understood the value of their work. We always have to clearly communicate the value of the investment we are making.

IES Abroad:  What was the value of working at the White House in the Office of Budget and Management (OMB)?

MR: I was there for 10 years, and when I saw that the budget director job at the NSF came up, I asked a budget examiner at OMB if she thought I’d be good at it.  She told me she thought I’d like it as long as I would be comfortable being a “second-class citizen,”  because if you don’t have a Ph.D. you’re just not considered to be on par with the rest of the senior staff. But my attitude was, after 10 years in the White House OMB, I had a post doc in Federal Budgeting. There weren’t a lot of people at that point who knew as much about the budget as I did. So I came to the NSF knowing more about the Federal Budget than the whole budget division combined (I hope they don’t read that!). The OMB job made it possible for me to become the CFO here.

IES Abroad: The research funded by the NSF transcends U.S. borders with the potential for catalyzing breakthroughs impacting the entire world. How important has having an international perspective been for you professionally?

MR: The former CFO, in conjunction with our Inspector General, started an international accountability workshop. For years, I have been a member of this international community of people who are responsible for overseeing the business aspects of awarding money to the research community. I have been to Paris and Oslo, and we’ve hosted here in Washington, DC. We have very close ties with our Irish, British, EU, French, Hungarian and other counterparts. NSF is considered the premier research funder in the world, and many organizations come to us to find out how we do things from a science perspective, a business perspective, IT systems, processing of proposals – how we manage the business of research investments. For example, I went to China to talk about how we do things. Both the Chinese NSF and the Irish NSF were predicated almost entirely on our model. Science is international, and the “business” of science is also international. I have colleagues and counterparts all around the world.

In so far as a physical presence abroad, some examples would be our astronomy facilities in Chile and the operations in Antarctica at the South Pole, as well as our international ocean drilling program, all of which support scientific research.  We also maintain overseas offices in Brussels, Tokyo, and Beijing.

IES Abroad: When you look back over your career, what are you most proud of?

MR: Looking across my career, I’m very proud to have been an analyst for the White House OMB, and that gave me a great bird’s eye view of the government and politics. That created the framework and context for me. The work ethic was intense, and I realized if I could succeed there, I could succeed anywhere. More recently, at the NSF, we participated in the annual Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey where they take the temperature of what people think about their job, their bosses, and their workplace. Across 320 components throughout the Federal government, our unit – the Office of Budget Finance and Award Management – came in 5^th as a best place to work in the Federal government. I am very proud of that.

IES Abroad: What advice do you have for students today who are interested in studying or interning abroad?

MR: Don’t think twice – just do it! Today’s students have so many options at their fingertips. In some ways, it may be more difficult and more expensive to study abroad, but through the internet, students can connect with so many wonderful programs. I remember even back in the 80s when I took an extended trip to Australia, New Zealand, and Fiji that I had to write a letter to a B&B on the South Island of New Zealand to get a room reservation. You couldn’t afford to make the phone call, and there was a 16 hour time difference. Now you just get online and search for flights, read reviews, and make reservations! Back then, travel was like stepping off a cliff, and today it is much easier in many ways. Study abroad is a huge opportunity to put your country and your own life in perspective, think about where you fit in the world, and grow up! London was one of the best parts of my college career.