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Indian
American sworn in as America's top science official
Tuesday, October 19, 2010 03:27:30 PM,
Arun Kumar, IANS
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Washington:
IIT Madras alumnus, Subra Suresh, has been sworn in as the
director of America's National Science Foundation (NSF), the top
US science body with a $7.4 billion budget to support scientific
institutions.
"We are very grateful to have Subra taking this new task," said
President Barack Obama at the White House Science Fair Monday
after Suresh was sworn in as the 13th NSF director by John Holdren,
Obama's science advisor.
"He has been at MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) 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."
Suresh, 54, was confirmed by the US Senate Sep 30, for a six-year
term.
He has served as dean of the engineering school and as Vannevar
Bush Professor of Engineering at MIT.
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 and a master's degree from Iowa State
University.
Suresh was nominated by President Obama to become the new NSF
director June 8, in place of Arden L. Bement Jr, who led the
agency from 2004 until he resigned in May this year.
NSF's current budget is $6.9 billion. For 2011 it has requested
$7.4 billion, an eight percent increase over 2010, in support of
Obama's goal of increasing the nation's total public and private
investment in research and development to at least 3 percent of
the gross domestic product.
(Arun Kumar can be contacted at arun.kumar@ians.in)
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