The
U.S. Senate today confirmed Arden L. Bement Jr. as director
of the Commerce Department's
National Institute of Standards
and Technology.
The
position of NIST director is a presidential appointment.
Bement, 69, was nominated by President Bush on Oct. 23,
2001, to be the 12th director of the agency. He succeeds
Raymond Kammer, who retired in December 2000. NIST Deputy
Director Karen Brown has served as acting director in the
interim.
"The
addition of Arden Bement completes a stellar 'tech team'
for the Bush Administration," said Secretary Don Evans.
"He brings a wealth of experience in both the private
and public sector vital to this position. With Dr. Bement
leading our nation's premier federal lab, we look forward
to making the Technology Administration the portal for the
technology community to the federal government."
Bement was most recently the David A. Ross Distinguished
Professor of Nuclear Engineering and head of the School
of Nuclear Engineering at Purdue University. He has held
appointments at Purdue University in the schools of Nuclear
Engineering, Materials Engineering, Electrical and Computer
Engineering, and a courtesy appointment in the Krannert
School of Management. He was director of the Midwest Superconductivity
Consortium and the Consortium for the Intelligent Management
of the Electrical Power Grid.
Bement
comes to his position as NIST director well versed in the
workings of the agency, having previously served as head
of the Visiting Committee on Advanced Technology, the agency's
primary private-sector policy adviser; as head of the advisory
committee for NIST's Advanced Technology Program; and on
the Board of Overseers for the Malcolm Baldrige National
Quality Award.
Bement
joined the Purdue faculty in 1992 after a 39-year career
in industry, government and academia. These positions included:
vice president of science and technology for TRW Inc. (1980-1992);
deputy under secretary of defense for research and engineering
(1979-1980); director, Office of Materials Science, DARPA
(1976-1979); professor of nuclear materials, MIT (1970-1976);
manager, Fuels and Materials Department and the Metallurgy
Research Department, Battelle Northwest Laboratories (1965-1970);
and senior research associate, General Electric Co. (1954-1965).
Along
with his NIST advisory roles, Bement served as a member
of the U.S. National Science Board, the advisory board for
the National Science Foundation, from 1989 to 1995. He also
chaired the Commission for Engineering and Technical Studies
and the Materials Advisory Board of the National Research
Council; was a member of the Space Station Utilization Advisory
Subcommittee and the Commercialization and Technology Advisory
Committee for NASA; and consulted for the Department of
Energy's Argonne National Laboratory and Idaho Nuclear Energy
and Environmental Laboratory.
He has
been a director of Keithley Instruments Inc. and the Lord
Corp. and was a member of the Science and Technology Advisory
Committee for the Howmet Corp. (a division of ALCOA).
Bement
holds an engineer of metallurgy degree from the Colorado
School of Mines, a master's degree in metallurgical material
engineering from the University of Idaho, a doctorate degree
in metallurgical material engineering from the University
of Michigan, and a honorary doctorate degree in engineering
from Cleveland State University. He is a member of the US
National Academy of Engineering.
Bement's
family includes his wife, Louise; eight children; 23 grandchildren
and two great-grandchildren. He is a native of Pittsburgh,
Pa., and grew up in New Castle, Pa.
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