Reminder - Jim Turner, Acting Director, NIST Seminar TODAY 4pm

Reminder, and bonus -- we also have Dr. Willie May, NIST Director of Chemistry Science and Technology, and NIST staff member Dr. Mike Amos as guests for this seminar. See you in Hewlett201!

 

 

Optical Society of America/SPIE Stanford Student Chapter and Stanford Photonics Research Center Present

Dr. James M. Turner, Ph.D.
Deputy Director and Acting Director, National Institute of Standards and Technology

Measuring Up to the Global Competition: How NIST Advances Innovation and Industrial Competitiveness

Thursday, May 29, 2008
4:15 pm, Hewlett 201
Refreshments at 4:00pm

Abstract

Study after study asserts the importance of innovation to the economic futures of industries and nations.  Across the spectrum from R&D laboratory to marketplace, global competition to be first and best in developing and commercializing new technologies is intensifying.  The job of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), a science and technology agency in the U.S. Department of Commerce, is to work with companies, universities, and other organizations to develop and deliver  the advanced measurement capabilities that are among the essential ingredients of a 21st century innovation economy.  In this talk, I will describe the vital – but often overlooked – role that measurements and standards play in fostering technological progress under fast-changing circumstances of global competition and as new national needs arise.  Examples will be drawn from NIST's work in nanotechnology and biotechnology.

About our Speaker

Dr. James M. Turner is the Deputy Director of the U.S. Department of Commerce's National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). He is also carrying out the responsibilities of the Director. (The NIST Director position is vacant.) Turner provides high-level oversight and direction for NIST. The agency promotes U.S. innovation and industrial competitiveness by advancing measurement science, standards, and technology. NIST's FY 2008 resources total $931.5 million and the agency employs about 2,800 scientists, engineers, technicians, support staff and administrative personnel at two main locations in Gaithersburg, MD and Boulder, CO. Along with the Department of Energy Office of Science, and the National Science Foundation, NIST is slated for substantial budget increases for its core research programs under the President's American Competitiveness Initiative.

Prior to joining NIST on April 16, 2007, Turner served as the Assistant Deputy Administrator for Nuclear Risk Reduction in the Department of Energy's National Nuclear Security Administration. In that position, he was responsible for major projects in Russia to permanently shutdown their last three weapons-grade plutonium-production reactors. He also worked with foreign governments and international agencies to reduce the consequences of nuclear accidents by strengthening their capability to respond to nuclear emergencies.

Prior to that assignment, Turner held several senior management posts at DOE concerned with laboratory oversight and with nuclear safety and the safeguarding of nuclear weapons both here and abroad.

He holds degrees in Physics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Ph.D.) and Johns Hopkins University (B.A.), and taught for five years as an Associate Professor of Physics and Engineering at Morehouse College.

Among other honors, he has received the U.S. Government Presidential Rank Award for Meritorious Service, three times received the U.S. Department of Energy Exceptional Service Award, and earned the Secretary of Energy Gold Award and the National Nuclear Security Administration's Gold Medal. Dr. Turner is an active member of the American Physical Society, the American Chemical Society, the American Nuclear Society, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, ASTM, the Council on Foreign Relations, IEEE, Phi Beta Kappa, Sigma Xi, and the World Affairs Council.

Dr. Turner is a native of Washington, DC, is married, and has five children and one grandchild. He enjoys doing yoga and Tai Chi. He and his wife, Paulette, reside in Olney, Maryland.

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Meredith M. Lee
Stanford University
Ph.D. Candidate, Dept. of Electrical Engineering
President, Stanford Student OSA/SPIE

Center for Integrated Systems
420 Via Ortega, Stanford, CA 94305-4075
Fax: (650) 723-4659
mmlee@stanford.edu