Ames Laboratory, U.S. Department of Energy, Ames, Iowa
Ames Laboratory, U.S. Department of Energy, Ames, Iowa
Ames, Iowa -- Patricia Thiel, program director for Materials Chemistry at the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Ames Laboratory and a professor of chemistry at Iowa State University (ISU), has been invited to serve as a member of the DOE's Basic Energy Sciences Advisory Committee. She was appointed by Secretary of Energy Frederico Pena on April 17.
The Basic Energy Sciences Advisory Committee reports to the director of the Office of Energy Research and provides significant advice to the DOE on policy issues, long-range plans, priorities, and strategies relating to the national Basic Energy Sciences (BES) Program. In fiscal year 1997, 69 percent of Ames Laboratory's $27 million DOE budget was directly funded through the BES program. And in fiscal year 1998, the BES Program anticipates funding research at approximately $431 million to DOE labs nationwide, so the expertise and counsel provided by the BES Advisory Committee members have a major impact on science in the United States.
The DOE's Office of Energy Research selects prospective Committee members from all areas of expertise, with the goal of providing a balanced Committee. Recommendations are then made to the Secretary of Energy, who makes the final appointments.
"The opportunity to serve on the Basic Energy Sciences Advisory Committee will be a valuable experience in learning more about the inner workings of the BES Program," says Thiel, whose research interests include gas-metal surface structure and surface reactivity; metal film growth; and the surface and interface properties of quasicrystals. "My mission will be to bring to the Committee views of basic energy sciences focused on surface science -- my professional community."
"The Basic Energy Sciences Advisory Committee is a very prestigious group," says Bruce Thompson, Division Director for Science and Technology at the Ames Laboratory. "They advise DOE on a wide range of science issues having to do with how we conduct the basic research that forms the foundations for the various activities of the Department of Energy. It's a real credit to Dr. Thiel and to Ames Lab that she was selected to be a Committee member."
Ames Laboratory is operated for the DOE by ISU. The Lab conducts research into various areas of national concern, including energy resources, high-performance computing, environmental cleanup and restoration, and synthesis and study of new materials.
Contact: Saren Johnston, ph: 515-294-3474
Last revision: 4/17/98 sd
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