Arden L. Bement Jr. became acting director of the National Science Foundation on February 22, 2004.
WASHINGTON, D.C.-Arden L. Bement Jr. became acting director of the National Science Foundation (NSF) on February 22, 2004. He joins NSF from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), where he has been director since December 2001. As head of NIST, he oversees an agency with an annual budget of about $773 million and an onsite research and administrative staff of about 3,000, complemented by a NIST-sponsored network of 2,000 locally managed manufacturing and business specialists serving smaller manufacturers across the United States.