"When the Jobs in the Nation Change, So Does the Job of the Scientist"
Dr. Arden Bement, Director, National Science Foundation
Inaugrual Civic Scientist Distinguished Lecture Series
Baker Institute
November 9th, 2006

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Arden L. Bement, Jr., became Director of the National Science Foundation (NSF) on Nov. 24, 2004. He had been acting director since Feb. 22, 2004.

He joined NSF from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), where he had been director since Dec. 7, 2001. As head of NIST, he oversaw an agency with an annual budget of about $773 million and an onsite research and administrative staff of about 3,000, complemented by a NIST-sponsored network of 2,000 locally managed manufacturing and business specialists serving smaller manufacturers across the United States. Prior to his appointment as NIST director, Bement served as 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, and Electrical and Computer Engineering, as well as 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 came to the position as NIST director having previously served as head of that agency's 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.

Along with his NIST advisory roles, Bement served as a member of the National Science Board (NSB) from 1989 to 1995. The board guides NSF activities and also serves as a policy advisory body to the president and Congress. As NSF director, Bement now serves as an ex officio member of the NSB.

He also chaired the Commission for Engineering and Technical Studies and the National 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 the Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory. He currently serves as a member of the U.S. National Commission for UNESCO and serves as the vice-chair of the Commissions Natural Sciences and Engineering Committee.

Bement joined the Purdue faculty in 1992 after a 39-year career in industry, government and academia. These positions included: vice president of technical resources and of science and technology for TRW Inc. (1980-1992); deputy undersecretary 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).

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 engineering from the University of Idaho, a doctorate degree in metallurgical engineering from the University of Michigan, an honorary doctorate degree in engineering from Cleveland State University, an honorary doctorate degree in science from Case Western Reserve University, an honorary doctorate degree in engineering from the Colorado School of Mines, and a Chinese Academy of Sciences Graduate School Honorary Professorship. He is a member of the U.S. National Academy of Engineering and a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Photo courtesy of NSF

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