News Release

National Science Board Elects Distinguished Engineers to be New Officers

Ray M. Bowen (left) will serve as NSB chairman, and Esin Gulari will serve as vice chairman.

Ray M. Bowen (left) will serve as NSB chairman, and Esin Gulari will serve as vice chairman. (Credit and Larger Version)

May 17, 2010

May 11, 2010

At its May 5, 2010 meeting, the National Science Board (NSB) elected Ray M. Bowen to serve as chairman and Esin Gulari to serve as vice chairman. The new officers replace outgoing chairman Steven C. Beering and vice chairman Patricia D. Galloway.

The board elects officers, who serve 2-year terms, from its current membership.

Newly elected Chairman, Ray M. Bowen, was born in Fort Worth, Texas, and earned his B.S. in mechanical engineering at Texas A&M University (1958). After receiving his M.S. at the California Institute of Technology (1959), he returned to Texas A&M for his Ph.D. in mechanical engineering (1961).  From 1994 to 2002, he served as president of Texas A&M and is currently president emeritus with a faculty appointment in mechanical engineering.  His research interest is in nonlinear continuum mechanics.  Dr. Bowen teaches in the Department of Mathematics as well as in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Texas A&M.

Under Bowen's leadership, Texas A&M was admitted to the Association of American Universities, expanded and enhanced numerous academic programs, and successfully completed a major capital campaign. Bowen has been instrumental in the creation of Vision 2020, an effort to propel the institution into the ranks of the country's top 10 public universities by the year 2020.

Before assuming the presidency of Texas A&M, Bowen served for a year as interim president of Oklahoma State University. He joined the administration of Oklahoma State in 1991 as provost and vice president for academic affairs. His earlier academic appointments included Dean of the College of Engineering, Director of the Center for robotics and Manufacturing Systems, and Director of the Center for Applied Energy Research at the University of Kentucky (1983-1989); faculty member in the Mechanical Engineering and Mathematical Sciences Department, Rice University (1967-1983); and member of the engineering mechanics faculty at Louisiana State University (1965-1967).

Bowen held two managerial positions at the National Science Foundation. In 1982-1983, he served as Director of the Division of Mechanical Engineering and Applied Mechanics, and in 1990-1991, he was Deputy Assistant Director and Acting Assistant Director for Engineering. He is a member of several professional societies and has authored or coauthored numerous professional articles and books.

Bowen was appointed to the National Science Board in 2002 and reappointed in 2008.

Newly elected Vice Chair, Esin Gulari, earned her B.S. at Robert College, Istanbul, Turkey (1969).  She received her M.S. (1970) and earned her Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering (1973) at the California Institute of Technology.

Esin Gulari was named dean of the College of Engineering and Science at Clemson University on July 1, 2006. In her capacity as dean, she oversees 15 academic departments, which have an enrollment of about 5,000 students, 23 undergraduate and 45 graduate degree programs, and 11 research centers.

Since becoming Dean, Gulari has created two new units within the college. The first is the School of Computing, which has the mission to prepare students for all aspects of computing as part of a university-wide emphasis on information technology and high-performance computing. The aim is to allow for rapid development of emerging, interdisciplinary research and academic programs. The department of engineering and science education is the second unit established and is designed to improve the educational methods and pedagogy of teaching science and engineering at the university level and to reach out to K-12 education with innovative strategies in math, science and engineering.

Before coming to Clemson University, Gulari was a member of the chemical engineering and materials science (CHEMS) department faculty in the College of Engineering at Wayne State University. She was chair of the department from 1993 to 2000. While at Wayne State, she was also the chief technology officer of nanoSEC, a startup company for manufacturing composites using supercritical fluid processing.

Gulari is a fellow of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers, the 2003 chair for the Council of Chemical Research, and a member of the executive board of the Committee of the Advancement of Women Chemists and Chemical Engineers (COACh).

From 2000 to 2004, Gulari served at the National Science Foundation (NSF) where she was the director of the Chemical and Transport Systems Division in the Engineering Directorate. She also served as acting assistant director for the Engineering Directorate at NSF from September 2001 to April 2003.

Her research interests include thermodynamics and transport properties of polymer solutions and melts, materials processing with supercritical fluids, nano-scale fillers for composites and light scattering and optical methods for probing microstructure of complex fluids.

Gulari was appointed to the National Science Board in 2008.

In addition to Beering, seven board members complete their terms as of May 11. They include one member who served as the Board's vice-chairman and four members who chaired NSB committees, subcommittees or task forces.  Collectively, they have served the board for 50 years.

Graduating members are:

  • Steven C. Beering was first appointed to the Board in 2002, reappointed in 2004, and completes his second 2-year term as chair.  He holds appointments as professor of medicine at Indiana University and professor of pharmacology at Purdue University and is President Emeritus, Purdue University.
  • Dan E. Arvizu completes his 6-year term. He chaired NSB's Audit and Oversight Committee and was the co-chair of the Task Force on Sustainable Energy.  He is the Director and Chief Executive, National Renewable Energy Laboratory.
  • G. Wayne Clough completes his 6-year term.  He is the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution.
  • Kelvin K. Droegemeier completes his 6-year term. He chaired NSB's Committee on Programs and Plans and the Task Force on Cost Sharing, and co-chairman of the Task Force on Hurricane Science and Engineering.  He is Vice President for Research and Regents' Professor of Meteorology and Weathernews Chair Emeritus, University of Oklahoma.
  • Louis J. Lanzerotti completes his 6-year term.  He chaired NSB's Committee on Science and Engineering Indicators.  He is Distinguished Research Professor of Physics, Center for Solar-Terrestrial Research, New Jersey Institute of Technology.
  • Alan Leshner completes his 6-year term.  He is the Chief Executive Officer and Executive Publisher, Science, American Association for the Advancement of Science.
  • Jon C. Strauss completes his 6-year term.  He chaired NSB's Task Force on international science and co-chaired its Task Force on Sustainable Energy and chaired the Subcommittee on Polar Issues.  He is Interim Dean of Engineering, Texas Tech University.
  • Kathryn D. Sullivan completes her 6-year term.  She served as Vice Chairman from 2006-2008.  She is Director, Battelle Center for Mathematics & Science Education Policy, John Glenn School of Public Affairs, Ohio State University.

The National Science Board was established by Congress as part of the National Science Foundation (NSF) Act of 1950, and has two important roles. It provides oversight for, and establishes the policies of, NSF. It also serves as an independent body of advisors to both the president and Congress on broad national policies issues related to science and engineering research and education.

NSB members are appointed by the president and confirmed by the Senate. Newly appointed and outgoing members are eligible to serve as consultants to the board and participate in all activities except voting and holding office. Outgoing members can serve as consultants until new members are named by the president.

-NSF-

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The National Science Foundation (NSF) is an independent federal agency that supports fundamental research and education across all fields of science and engineering. In fiscal year (FY) 2010, its budget is about $6.9 billion. NSF funds reach all 50 states through grants to nearly 2,000 universities and institutions. Each year, NSF receives over 45,000 competitive requests for funding, and makes over 11,500 new funding awards. NSF also awards over $400 million in professional and service contracts yearly.

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