| |
U.S. President Barack Obama
announced his intent to nominate physicist Patrick Gallagher to be the 14th
director of the U.S. Commerce Department’s National Institute of Standards and
Technology (NIST, www.nist.gov). Gallagher, 46, is currently the NIST deputy
director.
If confirmed by the Senate, Gallagher
will direct the agency with an annual budget of approximately $800 million and
approximately 2,900 scientists, engineers, technicians, support staff and
administrative personnel at two primary locations: Gaithersburg, Md., and
Boulder, Colo. Gallagher will succeed William Jeffrey, who left NIST in 2007.
The NIST provides the nation’s standard
time service and conducts research in measurement science, standards, and
related technologies in physical sciences, engineering and information
technology.
The agency also is home to the Hollings
Manufacturing Extension Partnership (www.mep.nist.gov), a nationwide network of
local centers offering technical and business assistance to smaller
manufacturers; the Technology Innovation Program, which provides cost-shared
awards to industry, universities and consortia for research on potentially
revolutionary technologies that address critical national and societal needs;
and the Baldrige National Quality Program (www.baldrige.nist.gov), which
promotes performance excellence among U.S. manufacturers, service companies,
educational institutions, health care providers and nonprofit organizations.
Gallagher, who has a doctorate in
physics from the University of Pittsburgh (www.pitt.edu), came to the NIST
Center for Neutron Research (NCNR) in 1993 to pursue research in neutron and
X-ray instrumentation and studies of soft-condensed matter systems such as liquids,
polymers and gels.
In 2000, Gallagher was a NIST agency
representative at the National Science and Technology Council (NSTC,
www.ostp.gov/cs/nstc) and became active in U.S. policy for scientific user
facilities. In 2006, he was awarded a Department of Commerce Gold Medal, the
department’s highest award, in recognition of this work. In 2004, he became
director of the NCNR, a national user facility for neutron research that is
considered one of the most productive and heavily used facilities of its type
in the nation. In September 2008, he was appointed deputy director of NIST.
Gallagher is active in a variety of
professional organizations and is a member of the American Association for the
Advancement of Science (www.aaas.org).
|
|
