Previous Fora / 2011
COLGLAZIER, William
Science and Technology Advisor to the Secretary of State, U.S. Department of State
Dr. E. William Colglazier was appointed in July 2011 as the fourth Science and Technology Adviser to the Secretary of State. The Adviser serves as an advocate for science-based policy at the State Department, helps to identify and evaluate emerging scientific and technical issues that affect U.S. strategic interests, brings scientific expertise to the Department, and helps to promote scientific and technological capacity-building and science-based policymaking internationally. The Adviser also provides outreach to the U.S. and international scientific community and helps to facilitate scientific cooperation between the United States and other countries.
From 1994 to 2011, Dr. Colglazier served as Executive Officer of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) and the National Research Council (NRC). He helped to oversee studies conducted by the NRC, the operating arm of the NAS, the National Academy of Engineering, and Institute of Medicine. Working together they provide independent, objective advice to the nation on public policy issues where insights and expertise from science, technology, and medicine are needed. From 1991 to 1994, Dr. Colglazier was Executive Director of the Office of International Affairs of the NAS and NRC.
From 1983 to 1991, he was Professor of Physics and Director of the Energy, Environment, and Resources Center at the University of Tennessee. He received his Ph.D. in theoretical physics from the California Institute of Technology in 1971, and prior to 1983 worked at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center, the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, and the Center for Science and International Affairs at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government. In 1976-77, he was an AAAS Congressional Science Fellow working for Congressman George Brown. He is past chair of the Forum on Physics and Society of the American Physical Society and a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the American Physical Society.