Venkatesh “Venky” Narayanamurti appointed NAE foreign secretary

The National Academy of Engineering has elected a new foreign secretary and four members to its governing Council. All terms begin July 1, 2011.

Elected to a four-year term as foreign secretary is Venkatesh “Venky” Narayanamurti, Benjamin Peirce Professor of Technology and Public Policy at the Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences and director of the science, technology, and public policy program at Harvard Kennedy School.

He succeeds George Bugliarello, president emeritus and institute professor at Polytechnic Institute of New York University, Brooklyn, N.Y., who passed away in February.  Bugliarello would have completed two consecutive terms as foreign secretary on June 30, 2011.

Narayanamurti came to Harvard in 1998 to serve as dean of the then Harvard Division of Engineering and Applied Sciences. He led the transition of the division into the new School of Engineering and Applied Sciences and stepped down as dean in 2008.

He is credited with developing the field of phonon optics: the manipulation of monoenergetic acoustic beams at terahertz frequencies and is currently active in the field of semiconductor nanostructures.

Narayanamurti has served on numerous national and international advisory committees and is an elected member of the National Academy of Engineering, the Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences, and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He is a fellow of the American Physical Society; the American Association for the Advancement of Science; the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers; and the Indian Academy of Sciences.

He has served on numerous advisory boards of the federal government, professional societies, national laboratories, and industry. In addition to serving in administrative and research roles, Narayanamurti lectures widely on solid state, computer and communication technologies, and on the management of Science, Technology and Public Policy.