E. lmerWilliam Colglazier (born November 24, 1944, and raised in San Antonio, Texas) is an American physicist, best known as the fourth Science and Technology Adviser to the U.S. Secretary of State. He assumed that position in July, 2011. In that role, he has written about the benefits of

science diplomacy Science diplomacy is the use of scientific collaborations among nations to address common problems and to build constructive international partnerships. Science diplomacy is a form of new diplomacy and has become an umbrella term to describe a n ...

. Colglazier received his Ph.D. in theoretical physics from the

California Institute of Technology The California Institute of Technology (branded as Caltech or CIT)The university itself only spells its short form as "Caltech"; the institution considers other spellings such a"Cal Tech" and "CalTech" incorrect. The institute is also occasional ...

in 1971. He then worked at the

Stanford Linear Accelerator Center SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, originally named the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center, is a United States Department of Energy National Laboratory operated by Stanford University under the programmatic direction of the U.S. Departme ...

, the

Institute for Advanced Study The Institute for Advanced Study (IAS), located in Princeton, New Jersey, in the United States, is an independent center for theoretical research and intellectual inquiry. It has served as the academic home of internationally preeminent scholar ...

in Princeton, and the Center for Science and International Affairs at Harvard's

Kennedy School of Government The Harvard Kennedy School (HKS), officially the John F. Kennedy School of Government, is the school of public policy and government of Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The school offers master's degrees in public policy, public ...

. While at Harvard, he also served as Associate Director of the Program in Science, Technology, and Humanism of the Aspen Institute. In 1976-77, he was an AAAS Congressional Science Fellow working for Congressman

George Brown George Brown may refer to: Arts and entertainment * George Loring Brown (1814–1889), American landscape painter * George Douglas Brown (1869–1902), Scottish novelist * George Williams Brown (1894–1963), Canadian historian and editor * G ...

.U.S. Department of State
"Biography: E. William Colglazier"
/ref> From 1983 to 1991, he was Professor of Physics and Director of the Energy, Environment, and Resources Center at the

University of Tennessee The University of Tennessee (officially The University of Tennessee, Knoxville; or UT Knoxville; UTK; or UT) is a public land-grant research university in Knoxville, Tennessee. Founded in 1794, two years before Tennessee became the 16th state, ...

where he worked closely with scientists at

Oak Ridge National Laboratory Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) is a U.S. multiprogram science and technology national laboratory sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and administered, managed, and operated by UT–Battelle as a federally funded research an ...

. From 1991 to 1994, Colglazier was Executive Director of the Office of International Affairs of the

National Academy of Sciences The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is a United States nonprofit, non-governmental organization. NAS is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and the Nati ...

(NAS) and U.S. National Research Council (NRC). From 1994 to 2011, Colglazier served as Executive Officer of the NAS and NRC. From 2000 to 2011 he also served as NRC Chief Operating Officer. Colglazier has been married to Catherine Clark Colglazier, former teacher and Humanities Manager at

Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology (also known as TJHSST, TJ, or Jefferson) is a Virginia state-chartered magnet high school in Fairfax County, Virginia operated by Fairfax County Public Schools. The school occupies the buil ...

Alexandria, Virginia Alexandria is an independent city (United States), independent city in the northern region of the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Virginia, United States. It lies on the western bank of the Potomac River approximately south of Downto ...

for 50 years. They have two married children: Geraldine Tunnell, Senior VP for Marketing at Dell and Will Colglazier, US History teacher at Aragon High School (CA). He resides in McLean, VA.

References

21st-century American physicists Living people American chief operating officers 1948 births {{US-physicist-stub