Clinton Nominates Physicists for Key OSTP Positions

August and September, President Clinton nominated two APS Fellows, Duncan Moore and Arthur Bienenstock, for key positions in the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP). The OSTP was established in 1976 under the National Science and Technology Policy, Organization and Priorities Act.

Duncan T. Moore, a former APS Congressional Fellow, was nominated in August as the Associate Director for Technology in the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP), Executive Office of the President. The Associate Director for Technology is responsible for setting federal policies that strengthen private incentives to develop and use productive new technology and to ensure a balanced portfolio of federal applied research in partnership with businesses and universities.

Moore is the Dean of the School of Engineering and Applied Science at the University of Rochester. He has also served at the Institute of Optics at the University of Rochester since 1974 as Assistant Professor, Associate Professor and presently as the Kingslake Professor of Optical Engineering. He has an extensive background in science and technology policy, both in scientific research and industrial applications of technology, and is the President and founder of the Gradient Lens Corporation, Rochester, New York.

In 1996 Moore completed service as President of the Optical Society of America, and in 1990 he served as Chair of NASA's Hubble Telescope Independent Optical Review Panel. From 1993 to 1994, Moore served as a Congressional Science Fellow in the office of Senator Jay Rockefeller through the APS fellowship program. He received a B.A. in Physics from the University of Maine, and an M.S. and Ph.D. in Optics from the University of Rochester.

In September, President Clinton announced his intent to nominate Arthur Bienenstock as the Associate Director for Science at OSTP. The Associate Director for Science is one of the Administration's key positions in the area of science along with the Director of the National Institutes of Health and the Director of the National Science Foundation. The Science Division strives to maintain U.S. global leadership in science, mathematics, and engineering. This division also participates in setting federal policies related to some of the most important health, agriculture, energy, education, and national security issues.

Bienenstock is the Director of the Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Laboratory, Stanford University, where he also serves as Professor in the Departments of Materials Science and Applied Physics. In addition, he has served as Vice Provost for Faculty Affairs at Stanford and was Stanford's first faculty affirmative action officer. Over the years he has been a member of many distinguished advisory committees, has organized major national and international conferences, and has been awarded distinguished research fellowships.

Currently, Bienenstock is serving as a Member on the National Research Council on Condensed Matter and Materials Physics of the National Academy of Sciences. For a number of years he was the Vice Chairman of the Board of Trustees for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. Artie has also been generous with his time for the APS. He served on APS Council from 1993-1996 and on the Committee on Applications in Physics (CAP). Bienenstock received a B.S. and an M.S. in Physics from Polytechnic University of New York and a Ph.D. from Harvard University in Applied Physics.