The Center for Science Diplomacy-organized roundtable is named in honor of Dr. Norman Neureiter, a science diplomat who has served in the U.S. Foreign Service and White House, as a senior executive at Texas Instruments, and as the first science and technology adviser to the U.S. Secretary of State, and was initiated on the occasion of his 80th birthday in January 2012. The roundtable, on an annual basis, seeks to address contemporary topics in science diplomacy by bringing together a diverse group of experts, practitioners, and thought leaders in an informal, not-for-attribution dialog that can make real contributions to science diplomacy practice. The first two roundtables were held in Washington, DC, and the third was hosted by the National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies (GRIPS) in Tokyo.
Past Neureiter Roundtables
Science & Technology and the Frontiers of 21st Century Trade Policy
Hosted by the Royal Society
London, U.K., October 5, 2017
The Fifth Neureiter Roundtable in London brought together 15 leaders from policy, diplomacy, trade, science, and industry in the United Kingdom and the United States to explore the trends and drivers changing the shape of international trade.
Science & Technology Advice to Foreign Ministries
Hosted by the AAAS Center for Science Diplomacy
Washington, D.C., February 11, 2016
The fourth Neureiter Roundtable in Washington, DC, focused on S&T Advisers to Foreign Ministries, connecting the S&T adviser network to the broader scientific community, and bridging internal S&T capacity in foreign ministries.
Science and Technology Diplomacy in Asia
Hosted and co-organized by the National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies (GRIPS)
Tokyo, November 11, 2014
The third annual Neureiter Science Diplomacy Roundtable in Tokyo, Japan, addressed science diplomacy in notheast Asia, the ASEAN countries, South Korea, and Russia.
Educating for Science Diplomacy
Hosted by the AAAS Center for Science Diplomacy
Washington, D.C., December 18, 2013
The second roundtable addressed the gaps (in topics, resources, and mechanisms) in the current science diplomacy education and training to meet future needs as well as possible integrated or systemic approaches to science diplomacy education and training that may be generally applicable to all international relations professionals.
Building the Capacity of Foreign Ministries in Science Diplomacy
Hosted by the AAAS Center for Science Diplomacy
Washington, D.C., January 25, 2012
The inaugural Neureiter Rountable covered science advice at the U.S. State Department; science envoys, fellowships, and visiting experts; and training diplomats in science and science diplomacy at embassies.
About Norman Neureiter
Norman P. Neureiter was born in Illinois and grew up near Rochester, New York. He received a B.A. degree in chemistry from the University of Rochester in 1952 and a Ph.D. in organic chemistry from Northwestern University in 1957. From 1955-56, he spent a year as a Fulbright Fellow in the Institute of Organic Chemistry at the University of Munich.
Credit: AAAS
In 1957, he joined Humble Oil and Refining (now part of Exxon) in Baytown, Texas, as a research chemist, while also teaching German and Russian at the University of Houston. On leave from Humble in 1959, he served as a guide at the U.S. National Exhibition in Moscow, subsequently qualifying as an escort interpreter for the Department of State. In 1963, he joined the International Affairs Office of the U.S. National Science Foundation and managed the newly established U.S.-Japan Cooperative Science Program. Entering the U.S. Foreign Service in 1965, he was named Deputy Scientific Attaché at the U.S. Embassy in Bonn. In 1967, he was transferred to Warsaw as the first U.S. Scientific Attaché in Eastern Europe with responsibility for Poland, Hungary and Czechoslovakia.
Dr. Neureiter returned to Washington in 1969 as Assistant for International Affairs to the President's Science Advisor in the White House Office of Science and Technology. He left the government in 1973 and joined Texas Instruments (TI), where he held a number of positions, including Manager, East-West Business Development; Manager, TI Europe Division; Vice President, Corporate Staff; and Vice President of TI Asia, resident in Tokyo from 1989-94.
After retirement from TI in 1996, he worked as a consultant until being appointed in September 2000 as the first Science and Technology Adviser to the U.S. Secretary of State, first to Madeleine Albright and then Colin Powell. Finishing the 3-year term in 2003, he was made a Distinguished Presidential Fellow for International Affairs at the U.S. National Academy of Sciences. In May 2004, he joined the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) as the first director of the AAAS Center for Science, Technology and Security Policy, funded by the MacArthur Foundation. He currently serves as a senior advisor to the AAAS Center for Science Diplomacy. Among his numerous honors, he recently received the Austrian Cross of Honour for Science and Art 1st class; Japan’s Order of the Rising Sun, Gold and Silver Star, decoration; the Officer’s Cross of the Polish Order of Merit; and the Public Welfare Medal of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences. Dr. Neureiter is married with four children and speaks German, Russian, Polish, French, Spanish and Japanese.