Dr. Norman Neureiter appointed director of the new
AAAS Center for Science, Technology and Security Policy

Dr. Norman Neureiter, a distinguished scientist, diplomat and international business executive, has been named director of the new Center for Science, Technology and Security Policy at the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Neureiter, who most recently served as science and technology adviser to U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell, will assume the new position on Monday, May 10. He will oversee an ambitious effort to build new connections between scientists, research institutions and the federal policy-makers who are involved with anti-terrorism efforts and other national security issues.

Dr. Alan Leshner, AAAS' chief executive officer, called Neureiter an "ideal choice" to head the center.

"Norman Neureiter uniquely brings together international, diplomatic and national security expertise," Leshner said. "He has the personal credibility and stature to be well-respected by policy-makers and academics alike."

The Center for Science, Technology and Security Policy is seen as a lynchpin in a six-year, $50 million effort by the John T. and Catherine D. MacArthur Foundation to enhance the prospects for international peace and security in a world roiled by the terror strikes of September 11 and the war in Iraq. In broadest terms, the initiative seeks to ensure that national security policy is based on the best available science. It is funding a select group of security-related research programs, ranging from the control of nuclear and chemical weapons to protecting domestic transit and energy systems to cyber-warfare. And it has provided grants to universities to create faculty and research positions that will attract scholars, mid-career scientists and engineers and post-doctoral students into national security fields. In addition, the foundation is funding the education and training of analysts overseas in Russia, China and the United Kingdom.

The Center was created after AAAS received a three-year, $2.25 million MacArthur grant in January. It has been conceived as a way to encourage exchanges between policymakers who need critical, reliable information - often on short notice - and the community of scientists and engineers who have such expertise.

"I think the appointment of Norm Neureiter will help dramatically in giving visibility to the center," said Kennette Benedict, director of international peace and security for the MacArthur Foundation. "He's well-known and plans to be in contact with a range of people to see what their needs are and to see how the center can direct information to them."

Over nearly 50 years, Neureiter has developed a fluency in the languages of science, business and public policy. He received a Bachelor of Science in chemistry at the University of Rochester (N.Y.) in 1952. He was a Fulbright Fellow to Germany in 1955-56. He earned a Ph.D. in organic chemistry at Northwestern University in 1957. After joining the U.S. Foreign Service in 1965, during the height of the Cold War, he became the first U.S. science attaché in Eastern Europe in 1967, based at the U.S. Embassy in Warsaw, Poland.

From 1969 to 1973, he served as the international affairs assistant in President Richard Nixon's Office of Science and Technology. After leaving that post, he worked for Texas Instruments until 1996, serving in his last years there as Director of Texas Instruments in Japan and the Vice President of Texas Instruments Asia.

In the closing months of the administration of President Bill Clinton, he was named to a three-year term as science and technology adviser to the Secretary of State, serving first under Secretary Madeleine Albright and then, after President George W. Bush took office, under Secretary Colin Powell. Neureiter left the post in September 2003, after his term expired.

—Edward W. Lempinen

11 May 2004