The Potomac Institute for Policy Studies is pleased to announce that Arden L. Bement, Jr., PhD, Chief Global Affairs Officer and Inaugural Director of the Global Policy Research Institute, Purdue University, will be a Potomac Institute for Policy Studies Navigator Award winner for 2010. Dr. Bement and fellow awardees will be presented with the award at a banquet at the Willard Hotel, Washington, DC, on October 21.
Prior to his appointments at Purdue University, Dr. Bement served as the 12th director of the National Science Foundation (NSF), a position he held from November 24, 2004 until June 1, 2010. He had been acting director since February 22, 2004. While Director of the NSF, Dr. Bement served as a member of the U.S. National Commission for UNESCO and as the vice-chair of the Commission's Natural Sciences and Engineering Committee.
Regarding the selection of Dr. Bement as a recipient of a Navigator Award, Potomac Institute Chairman and CEO Michael Swetnam said, "Arden has been a great and inspiring leader in this country’s science and technology fields for decades. His contributions are too numerous to mention. We, at the Institute, are honored to be associated with him and to present him with this award."
Dr. Bement's distinguished career also includes service as Director of the National Institute of Standards and Technology of the Department of Commerce; David A. Ross Distinguished Professor of Nuclear Engineering and head of the School of Nuclear Engineering at Purdue University; Vice President of Technical Resources and of Science and Technology for TRW Inc.; Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering; Director, Office of Materials Science, DARPA; Professor of Nuclear Materials, MIT; and Manager, Fuels and Materials Department and Metallurgy Research Department, Battelle Northwest Laboratories.
Dr. Bement is a retired Lieutenant Colonel of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and a recipient of the Distinguished Service Medal of the Department of Defense. He is a member of the U.S. National Academy of Engineering, a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He was awarded the Order of the Rising Sun, with Gold and Silver Star, from the Emperor of Japan in 2009.
The Potomac Institute for Policy Studies' Navigator Awards are presented to members of Congress and to representatives of the executive branch, industry and academia in recognition of their distinguished contributions in the arena of science and technology. The Navigator Award is named as a tribute to those leaders in science and technology who act as pathfinders in the pursuit of knowledge. Past recipients include: Dr. Rita Colwell, Dr. Charles Herzfeld, VADM Paul Gaffney, Dr. Tony Tether, Dr. John Marburger, Dr. John Young, Senator Pat Roberts, Senator Joseph Lieberman, Senator Jeff Bingaman, Congressman Pete Hoekstra, Congressman Dana Rohrabacher, Congressman Tom Davis, Congressman Sherwood Boehlert, General Al Gray, In-Q-Tel CEO Mr. Gilman Louie, Scientific American Editor-in-Chief Mr. John Rennie, and other distinguished thought leaders.