February 23, 2009
NSF director Arden Bement to speak at Purdue
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - |
Bement is the featured speaker for the inaugural Moshe M. Barash Distinguished Lectureship for Manufacturing Engineering, which is named for the late Purdue professor emeritus. Bement’s talk, titled "In the Barash Tradition: Imagining the Shape of Things to Come," will be at 3:30 p.m. in the East Faculty Lounge of the Purdue Memorial Union. A reception will follow in the union's Lafayette Room.
The talk, which is free and open to the public, will be about the role of research and innovation in addressing future global challenges ranging from energy security to climate change. The lectureship is sponsored by Purdue's School of Industrial Engineering.
Bement, the former David A. Ross Distinguished Professor of Nuclear Engineering and head of the School of Nuclear Engineering at Purdue, also held appointments in Purdue's schools of materials engineering and electrical and computer engineering, as well as a courtesy appointment in the Krannert School of Management. He joined the Purdue faculty in 1992 after a 39-year career in industry, government and academia.
Bement became NSF director in 2004 and had previously been named director of the National Institute of Standards and Technology in November 2001. As NSF director, he oversees a budget of more than $6 billion that supports the research and education of roughly 200,000 scientists, engineers, educators, and students across the United States.
Bement holds an engineer of metallurgy degree from the Colorado School of Mines, a master's degree in metallurgical material engineering from the University of Idaho and a doctorate in metallurgical material engineering from the University of Michigan. He was awarded an honorary doctorate in engineering from Cleveland State University, is a member of the National Academy of Engineering and was named a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
The Moshe M. Barash Distinguished Lectureship for Manufacturing Engineering is named for the late Ransburg Professor Emeritus of Manufacturing Engineering and Industrial Engineering. A leader in the field of manufacturing science and engineering, Barash retired from Purdue in 1992 and died in June 2006. Among his major contributions was his pioneering research to enable computers for factory planning and scheduling, including automatic process planning and computerized manufacturing systems. A fellow of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, Barash also made significant contributions to the design of automatic flexible fixtures, automated design of manufacturing systems, precision engineering, robot applications, and computer-aided manufacturing.
Writer: Emil Venere, (765) 494-4709, venere@purdue.edu
Source: Dan Folta, director of development, School of
Industrial Engineering, (765) 496-6192; dfolta@purdue.edu
Purdue News Service: (765) 494-2096; purduenews@purdue.edu
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