The Bromley Memorial Event

The Honorable Sethuraman Panchanathan is a computer scientist and engineer and the 15th director of the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF). NSF is an $8.5B independent federal agency and the only government agency charged with advancing all fields of scientific discovery, technological innovation, and STEM education.

Dr. Panchanathan has a distinguished career in science, technology, engineering, and education that spans more than three decades. He served as executive vice president of the Arizona State University Knowledge Enterprise, where he also founded the Center for Cognitive Ubiquitous Computing.

Prior to becoming director of NSF, Panchanathan served on the National Science Board for six years and has also served on and chaired numerous high-level research and innovation organizations. He is a fellow of the National Academy of Inventors, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the Association for Computing Machinery, and other prestigious science and engineering organizations. Dr. Panchanathan’s scientific contributions have advanced the areas of human-centered multimedia computing, haptic user interfaces, person-centered ubiquitous computing technologies for empowering individuals with a range of abilities.

Kei Koizumi is a Visiting Scholar in Science Policy at the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). He joined AAAS in February 2017 after 8 years as Assistant Director for Federal Research and Development and Senior Advisor for the National Science and Technology Council at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP).STP engagement on the U.S. Federal R&D budgets, appropriations, and policies and for S&T policy coordination through the National Science and Technology Council. He received his M.A. from the Center for International Science, Technology, and Public Policy program at the George Washington University (where he is currently an instructor), and received his B.A. in Political Science and Economics from Boston University.

Carlos Henrique de Brito Cruz is a member of the Brazilian Academy of Sciences. Since April 2005, Brito Cruz is the Scientific Director of FAPESP. He was President of the São Paulo Research Foundation, FAPESP, from 1996 to 2002 and Rector of Unicamp from April 2002 to April 2005. He has been the President of the Board of Technology and Competitiveness of FIESP (2005-2012). He has been the Vice President of the Brazilian Society of Physics and member of the Advisory Board of the International Optical Society of America. His research is in ultrafast phenomena using ultra-short laser pulses, with emphasis on the study of electronic processes in the time-scale of femtoseconds in nonlinear optical materials aimed for applications in optical communications. He graduated in Electronic Engineering from ITA in 1978. He obtained the title of Master of Science in 1980 and the Doctor of Sciences in 1983, at the Institute of Physics Gleb Wataghin, Unicamp.

Dr. Rongping Mu is the Director-General Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Professor at the Institute of Policy and Management (IPM), director-general of the CAS Center for Innovation and Development, editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Science Research Management (an academic bimonthly). Besides, he is also collaborating editor of Science Technology & Society (bi-annually, published by SAGE), Vice President and Secretary-General of the China High-tech Industry Promotion Society (CHIPS), Vice President of the Chinese Association for Science of Science and S&T Policy Research. His research interests include S&T & Innovation Policy, Technology Foresight, R&D Management, and Competitiveness of High-Tech industry. Dr. Mu received his B.S. (1983) and M.S. degree (1990) from University of Science and Technology of China, and his Ph.D. degree (2001) from Technische Universität Berlin, Germany. 

Harvey Mudd College is led by Maria Klawe, HMC’s fifth president, who began her tenure in 2006. A renowned computer scientist and scholar, President Klawe is the first woman to lead the College since its founding in 1955. Prior to joining HMC, she served as dean of engineering and professor of computer science at Princeton University. During her time at Princeton, Klawe led the School of Engineering and Applied Science through a strategic planning exercise that created an exciting and widely embraced vision for the school. Klawe joined Princeton from the University of British Columbia where she served as dean of science from 1998 to 2002, vice president of student and academic services from 1995 to 1998 and head of the Department of Computer Science from 1988 to 1995. Prior to UBC, Klawe spent eight years with IBM Research in California, and two years at the University of Toronto. She received her Ph.D. (1977) and B.Sc. (1973) in mathematics from the University of Alberta.

William B. Bonvillian is Director of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Washington, D.C. Office, where he works to support MIT’s strong and historic relations with federal R&D agencies and its role in national science policy. Previously he served for seventeen years as a senior policy advisor in the U.S. Senate. His legislative efforts included science and technology policies and innovation issues, and he worked extensively on legislation for intelligence reform, defence and life science R&D, national competitiveness and innovation, as well as legislation creating the Department of Homeland Security.

Dr. John P. Holdren is Assistant to President Barack Obama for Science and Technology, Director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, and Co-Chair of the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST). Prior to joining the Obama administration Dr. Holdren was Teresa and John Heinz Professor of Environmental Policy and Director of the Program on Science, Technology, and Public Policy at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government, as well as professor in Harvard’s Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences and Director of the independent, non-profit Woods Hole Research Center. Previously he was on the faculty of the University of California, Berkeley, where he co-founded in 1973 and co-led until 1996 the interdisciplinary graduate degree program in energy and resources. Dr. Holdren holds advanced degrees in aerospace engineering and theoretical plasma physics from MIT and Stanford. 

Dr. Rajagopala Chidambaram holds a Ph.D. and D.Sc. from the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore. Since 2001, he has been the Principal Scientific Adviser to the Government of India and Chairman of the Scientific Advisory Committee to the Cabinet. He was Chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission & Secretary to the Government of India from 1993 to 2000. He is the President of the Shree Chitra Tirunal Institute of Medical Sciences, Chairman of the Board of Governors of the Indian Institute of Technology Madras, and Chancellor of the University of Hyderabad. He is a Member of the Prime Minister’s Council on Climate Change and Chairman of the High-Level Committee for the National Knowledge Network. He is also an Honorary Visiting professor in the Department of Physics at Banaras Hindu University. In addition, he has held numerous national and international positions in the field of physics and has been the recipient of many awards.

Dr. John H. Marburger, III, a University Professor in the departments of Physics and Electrical Engineering at the State University of New York at Stony Brook, served as Science Advisor to the President and Director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) during the George W. Bush Administration (2001-2009). Prior to his federal service, he was Director of Brookhaven National Laboratory from 1998, and the third President of Stony Brook University (1980-1994). He came to Long Island in 1980 from the University of Southern California where he had been a Professor of Physics and Electrical Engineering, serving consecutively as Physics Department Chairman and Dean of the College of Letters, Arts and Sciences in the 1970’s.

Dr. Nicholas Vonortas is Professor of Economics and International Affairs at the George Washington University in Washington D.C. He is a faculty member of the Department of Economics and the Director of both the Center for International Science and Technology Policy and of the graduate program in International Science and Technology Policy at GW’s Elliott School of International Affairs. Professor Vonortas’ teaching and research interests are in industrial organization, in the economics of technological change, and in science and technology policy. He specializes on strategic partnerships, innovation networks, technology transfer, technology and competition policy, and the appraisal of the economic returns of R&D programs. He has published widely on these issues. Professor Vonortas holds a Ph.D. and a M.Phil. in Economics from New York University (USA), a M.A. in Economic Development from Leicester University (UK), and a B.A. in Economics from the University of Athens (Greece).

Dr. Michael Gibbons was an Honorary Professorial Fellow at Science and Technology Policy Research (SPRU) at Sussex University from 2004 to 2007, following his retirement as Secretary General of the Association of Commonwealth Universities. Prior to these appointments he was Founding Director of the Programme of Policy Research in Engineering Science and Technology at the University of Manchester and Director of Research and Technology Transfer in that University. Professor Gibbons has an active research interest in science and technology policy and has carried out research in the process of technological innovation in industry and the evaluation of research. He is co-author with colleagues of two major books on the nature of contemporary science: New Modes of Knowledge Production and Re-thinking Science, which have arguably set the agenda for much current science policy debate.

Dr. Arthur I. Miller is Emeritus Professor of History and Philosophy of Science at University College London. He is fascinated by the nature of creative thinking and in particular, in creativity in art (on the one hand) and science (on the other). He is the author of Einstein, Picasso: Space, Time and the Beauty that Causes Havoc, which was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize, and Empire of the Stars, which was shortlisted for the 2006 Aventis Prize for Science Books. His most recent book is Deciphering the Cosmic Number: The Strange Friendship of Wolfgang Pauli and Carl Jung. The paperback version, 137: Jung, Pauli and the Pursuit of a Scientific Obsession, was published in July 2010. Miller earned a Ph.D. in physics from MIT. He served on the faculties of the University of Massachusetts and Harvard University. From 1991 to 2005 he was Professor of History and Philosophy of Science at University College London where he founded the Department of Science & Technology Studies. He has lectured and written extensively on the history and philosophy of nineteenth and twentieth century science and technology, cognitive science, scientific creativity, and the relation between art and science.