December 16, 2011
News Release 11-162
Contact: Peg O'Laughlin, 202-205-1819

Deanna Tanner Okun, Chairman of the United States International Trade Commission (USITC), announced today that James Kennedy has been designated as Director, Office Analysis and Research Services, at the USITC.

Kennedy will manage research and statistical support for USITC investigations and direct the agency's library, editorial, knowledge resources, and statistical services activities.

Prior to joining the USITC, Kennedy served at the U.S. Department of Labor's Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). From 1993 to 2011, he was Chief of the Consumer Price Index Data Collection Research Branch, Statistical Methods Division in the BLS Office of Prices and Living Conditions. From 1993 to 1995, he was a statistician with the Statistical Methods Group in the BLS Office of Compensation and Working Conditions. Earlier in his career, Kennedy was a statistician and psychologist at the Research Triangle Institute in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina, and an adjunct professor at Elon College in Elon College, North Carolina.

Since 1994, Kennedy has conducted independent research in swarm intelligence. He is co-originator with Russell C. Eberhart of particle swarm optimization, with first papers published 1995, and co-author (with Eberhart) of Swarm Intelligence, published in 2001 by Academic Press/Morgan Kaufmann. Kennedy has published more than 60 papers, chapters, and conference papers, and given more than 45 unpublished addresses throughout the United States, Canada, and Europe.

Kennedy holds a doctorate degree in social psychology from the University of North Carolina, a master's degree in psychology from California State University/Fresno, and a bachelor's degree in psychology from the University of Arizona.

The U.S. International Trade Commission (USITC) is an independent, nonpartisan, factfinding federal agency that makes determinations concerning the impact of imports and their potential injury on domestic companies. The USITC staff includes experts who analyze virtually every commodity imported into the United States. The USITC provides data on international trade to the President, Congress, other federal agencies, and the public.