Biden appoints two new research scientists to National Science Board
The White House has appointed Victor McCrary Jr. and Julia Philips to the National Science Board.
McCrary is the vice president for research and graduate programs at the University of the District of Columbia, where his team leads the growth and oversight of the university’s research enterprise. He returns to the board after serving on it during the Obama administration and has held several other research leadership positions including at Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, Morgan State University and the University of Tennessee.
Phillips is a materials physicist and was previously vice president and chief technology officer at the Sandia National Laboratories in New Mexico. She retired in 2015 but remains an executive emeritus at the laboratories, and is a member of the National Academy of Engineering and a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
The National Science Board establishes the policies of the National Science Foundation and serves as an adviser to Congress and the president.
The board also approves major NSF awards, provides congressional testimony and issues statements relevant to the nation’s science and engineering enterprise. The president is able to appoint up to 24 members to the board, each for a term of six years.
The appointments come as the White House earlier today signed a national security memorandum that is intended to confront risks associated with future quantum technologies with help from federal agencies, academia and the private sector.
