Change at the Top

ASEE Prism, Jan 2007 by Grose, Thomas K

NATIONAL ACADEMY OF ENGINEERING

IT LOOKS AS if Charles M. Vest, president emeritus of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, will succeed William A. Wulf as president of the National Academy of Engineering (NAE). Vest, 65, was unanimously recommended by an NAE nominating committee. If the group's membership agrees in a March vote, Vest will take over July 1 for a six-year term. He's been an NAE member since 1993 and sits on its governing council. Last year, he was part of the National Academies' team that authored the seminal report. "Rising Above the Gathering Storm," which motivated the White House and Congress to pour more resources into engineering and physical sciences research and education. Vest received his bachelor's in mechanical engineering from West Virginia University in 1963; he earned a master's a year later and a Ph.D. in 1967, both from the University of Michigan. He headed MIT from 1990 to 2004. -TG