Arden Lee Bement Jr. (born May 22, 1932) is an American engineer and scientist and has served in executive positions in government, industry and academia.
Bement was elected a member of the National Academy of Engineering in 1983 for contributions to the understanding of irradiation effects in nuclear materials and development of advanced materials concepts for defense applications.
He is a former Deputy Undersecretary of Defense for Research and Advanced Technology, Chief Technical Officer of TRW, Director of the National Science Foundation (NSF) and Director of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). Following the end of his six-year term at NSF, on June 1, 2010, he became the founding director of the Global Policy Research Institute and Chief Global Affairs officer at Purdue University.
Biography
Born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Bement started his career at Climax Molybdenum Mine after graduating from high school. His supervisor, Prentice Cain, was a graduate of the Colorado School of Mines. He encouraged Arden to go to Mines, in fact, he helped Arden fill out the admission form, and then made a life-changing covenant. He agreed to put up the first semester’s tuition and if Arden made it beyond the first semester, he wouldn't owe him a dime. Unfortunately, Prentice Cain died before he could see Arden graduate but his unselfish contribution forever changed the career path and subsequent Science and Engineering contributions from Dr. Arden Bement.
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. He has served on and has chaired numerous NRC studies, most relevant to this study chairing the Committee on the Scientific and Technical Assessment of Stockpile Stewardship. He has served as the head of the NIST Visiting Committee on Advanced Technology, head of the advisory committee for NIST’s Advanced Technology Program and as a member of the board of overseers for the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award. He chaired the Commission for Engineering and Technical Studies and the National Materials Advisory Board of the National Research Council, was a member of the Space Station Utilization Advisory Subcommittee and the Commercialization and Technology Advisory Committee for NASA and was a member of the U.S. National Science Board from 1989-1995, which guides NSF activities and serves as a policy advisory body to the President and Congress.
Dr. Bement has been a director of Keithley Instruments Inc., Lord Corporation,[2] Midwest Superconductivity Consortium and the Consortium for the Intelligent Management of the Electrical Power Grid and as a member of the Science and Technology Advisory Committee, Howmet Corporation, a division of Alcoa. He has been an advisor for The Electric Power Research Institute, the Department of Energy’s Argonne National Laboratory, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Sandia National Laboratory, and the Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory. He is currently serving on the Science Advisory Council of the Skolkovo Foundation, the Board of Trustees of the Skolkovo Institute of Science and Technology, the Board of Visitors of the National Intelligence University, the Board of Trustees of Radian Research Inc., and President of the Indiana Academy of Science.
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