02-13-07

Ames Laboratory/IPRT interim director named; search committee for new director named

Ames, IA - Alan Goldman has been named interim director of the U.S. Department of Energy's Ames Laboratory and the Institute for Physical Research and Technology, or IPRT, at Iowa State University. Goldman is currently the division director of Science and Technology at Ames Laboratory. Goldman's appointment is effective March 1, 2007.

Goldman became an Ames Laboratory division director in September of 2004. Prior to that, he was chairman of the ISU Department of Physics and Astronomy from 1999 to 2002 and also served as the interim director of the ISU International Institute of Theoretical and Applied Physics. Goldman began his career at ISU and Ames Laboratory in 1988 as an assistant professor in physics and an Ames Lab associate physicist. Goldman was an associate scientist at Brookhaven National Laboratory from 1984-1988. Goldman's background is in X-ray- and neutron-scattering techniques for the study of the structure and dynamics of condensed matter. Since 1994, he has been the director of the Midwest Universities Collaborative Access Team, a group of scientists from eight universities and one German institute. Under his leadership, MUCAT set up an undulator beam line in the Advanced Photon Source at Argonne National Laboratory to study materials and their properties.

Goldman will replace Tom Barton, who plans to return to ISU's chemistry faculty at the end of February. Barton has served as director of the Ames Laboratory since 1988 and IPRT since 1998.

A 14-member search committee has been established to find a successor to Barton. The committee is chaired by Bruce Thompson, Distinguished Professor in materials science and engineering and director of the Center for Nondestructive Evaluation.

John Brighton, vice president for research and economic development, said he hopes the next Ames Laboratory director will be named by August 1, 2007.

Members of the search committee are:

• Bruce Thompson, Chair, Distinguished Professor, materials science and engineering; director, Center for Nondestructive Evaluation; Ames Laboratory program director of Nondestructive Evaluation
• Iver Anderson, adjunct professor, materials science and engineering; Ames Laboratory senior metallurgist
• Diane Birt, Distinguished Professor, food science and human nutrition
• Cynthia Jenks, scientist, chemistry; Ames Laboratory senior scientist
• Mark Kushner, dean, College of Engineering
• Richard LeSar, professor and chair, materials science and engineering
• Surya Mallapragada, professor, chemical and biological engineering; Ames Laboratory program director of Materials Chemistry and Biomolecular Materials
• Jake Petrich, professor and chair, chemistry
• Eli Rosenberg, professor and chair, physics and astronomy
• Costas Soukoulis, Distinguished Professor, physics and astronomy; Ames Laboratory senior physicist
• Patricia Thiel, Distinguished Professor, chemistry; Ames Laboratory senior chemist
• Michael Whiteford, dean, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences
• Ed Yeung, Distinguished Professor, chemistry; Ames Laboratory program director of Chemical and Biological Sciences
• Chitra Rajan, associate vice president for research

Ames Laboratory, celebrating its 60th anniversary in 2007, is operated for the Department of Energy by Iowa State University. The lab conducts research into various areas of national concern, including energy resources, high-speed computer design, environmental clean-up and restoration, and the synthesis and study of new materials.

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