Indian-American sworn in as US top science official

[trident2010]

Indian-American sworn in as US top science official



WASHINGTON: Indian-American academician and IIT Madras alumnus, Subra Suresh was sworn in as the director of the National Science Foundation (NSF,) the top US science body that leads scientific research in the country.

Nominated by US President Barack Obama, Suresh as Director will lead the $7.4 billion independent federal agency that supports all fields of science and engineering research, as well as a wide span of educational programmes that reach more than 2,000 institutions across the US.

"We are very grateful to have Subra taking this new task," Obama said in his remarks at the White House Science Fair after Suresh was sworn in yesterday as the 13th NSF director by John Holdren, Obama's science advisor.

"He has been at MIT and has been leading one of the top engineering programmes in the country, and for him now to be able to apply that to the National Science Foundation is just going to be outstanding," he said.

"So we're very grateful for your service," he said acknowledging the contribution of Suresh in the field of science and technology.

The swearing in ceremony took place in the Secretary of War Ceremonial Room of the Eisenhower Executive Office Building of the White House.

Suresh was confirmed by the US Senate on September 30, for a six-year term.

Suresh, 54, served as dean of the engineering school and as Vannevar Bush Professor of Engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

A mechanical engineer, who later became interested in materials science and biology, Suresh has done pioneering work studying the biomechanics of blood cells under the influence of diseases such as malaria.

From 2000 to 2006, Suresh served as the head of the MIT Department of Materials Science and Engineering. He joined MIT in 1993 as the R P Simmons Professor of Materials Science and Engineering and held joint faculty appointments in the Departments of Mechanical Engineering and Biological Engineering, as well as the Division of Health Sciences and Technology.

Suresh holds a bachelor's degree from the Indian Institute of Technology in Madras, a master's degree from Iowa State University, and earned his ScD from MIT in 1981.

Suresh was nominated by President Obama to become the new NSF director on June 8, replacing Arden L Bement Jr, who led the agency from 2004 until he resigned in May of this year.

NSF's budget for 2010 is $6.9 billion. The agency's budget request for 2011 is $7.4 billion, an eight-per cent increase over 2010, which supports the President's goal of increasing the nation's total public and private investment in research and development to at least 3% of the gross domestic product.



Indian-American sworn in as US top science official - The Times of India

 

[trident2010]

Good to see so many Indians getting top positions in US. Good for India in long term.

Way to go !!

 

[SurvivoR]

Can anyone post a detailed profile of the guy... anyway Congrats. A lot of good news are coming for the Indians and I believe, deservedly so.

 

[trident2010]

Can anyone post a detailed profile of the guy...

Here you go !!

Dean Subra Suresh is the Vannevar Bush Professor of Engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He holds joint faculty appointments in Materials Science and Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Biological Engineering, and Health Sciences and Technology at MIT, and served as head of the Department of Materials Science and Engineering from January 2000 to January 2006. He began his tenure as Dean of the School of Engineering in July 2007.

He received his bachelor of technology degree in first class with distinction from the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras, in 1977; his MS from Iowa State University in 1979; and his ScD from MIT in 1981. He also holds an honorary doctorate in engineering from Sweden's Royal Institute of Technology. Following postdoctoral research from 1981 to 1983 at the University of California at Berkeley and the Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory, he joined Brown University as an assistant professor of engineering in December 1983; he was promoted to full professor in July 1989. He joined MIT in 1993 as the R. P. Simmons Professor of Materials Science and Engineering.

Professor Suresh's current research focuses on experimental and computational studies of the mechanical responses of single biological cells and molecules and their implications for human health and diseases. His prior and ongoing work has also led to seminal contributions in the area of nano- and micro-scale mechanical properties of engineered materials.

He is the author of over 210 research articles in international journals, coeditor of five books, and coinventor on 14 US and international patents. More than 100 students, postdoctoral associates, and research scientists trained in his group occupy prominent positions in academe, industry, and government throughout the world. He has authored or coauthored three books: Fatigue of Materials, Fundamentals of Functionally Graded Materials, and Thin Film Materials.

Professor Suresh has been elected to a number of major science and engineering academies, including the US National Academy of Engineering (2002); American Academy of Arts and Sciences (2004); Indian National Academy of Engineering (2004, foreign member); TWAS, the academy of sciences for the developing world (2005); Indian Academy of Sciences (2005, honorary fellow); Spanish Royal Academy of Sciences (2007, honorary member); and German Academy of Sciences (2007).

He has been elected a fellow or honorary fellow in all the major materials societies in the United States and India, including the American Society for Materials International (ASM); Minerals, Metals and Materials Society (TMS); American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME); American Ceramic Society (ACerS); Indian Institute of Metals; and Materials Research Society of India.

He is the recipient of the 2007 European Materials Medal, the highest honor conferred by the Federation of European Materials Societies, and the 2006 Acta Materialia Gold Medal. In its March 2006 issue, MIT's Technology Review magazine selected Professor Suresh's work on nanobiomechanics as one of the top 10 emerging technologies that "will have a significant impact on business, medicine or culture."

Among other major awards and honors, he has received the Sauveur Achievement Award of the American Society for Materials International (2004); the Gordon Moore Distinguished Scholarship at California Institute of Technology (2004); the Brahm Prakash Professorship at the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore (2004); the Senior Humboldt Research Prize from the Humboldt Foundation, Germany (2004); the Distinguished Materials Scientist/Engineer Award from TMS (2001); the Clark B. Millikan Visiting Professorship at Caltech (1999), the TFR Swedish National Chair in Engineering at the Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm (1997-98); the Distinguished Alumnus Award from the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras (1997); the Ross Coffin Purdy Award from the American Ceramic Society (1992); two Allied Signal Foundation Research Awards (1989 and 1990); the Technical Analysis Corporation Teacher Award at Brown University (1989); a Ford Foundation Research Award (1986-87); a Presidential Young Investigator Award from the National Science Foundation and the White House (1985-90); the Champion H. Mathewson Gold Medal (1985) from TMS; the Robert Lansing Hardy Gold Medal (1983) from TMS; an Outstanding Scientific Accomplishment Award from the US Department of Energy (1982); the Premium for Academic Excellence Award from Iowa State University (1977-79); and a National Merit Scholarship from the Government of India (1971-77).

 

[Gold1010]

he might class himself as americanor both.

 

[DESERT FIGHTER]

he might class himself as americanor both.

American of indian ethnicity or origin to be precise.... also there was some indian scientist who was involved in selling sensitive info a lil back.... u racist aussie.

 

[Gold1010]

racist how?