Institute Professor John M. Deutch will join President Charles Vest and Institute Professor Mario Molina on the Pres-ident's Committee of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST).
President Clinton announced his intention to appoint Professor Deutch to the 17-member pa-nel on January 26. The committee, which meets four times a year, was created in 1993.
Professor Phillip Sharp, head of the Department of Biology, resigned from PCAST last year after President Clinton appointed him to the National Cancer Advisory Board (NCAB).
Professor Deutch has served in significant academic and government posts throughout his career, including a 20-month term as director of the Central Intelligence Agency. He served on President Reagan's Science Council in the mid-1980s.
Prior to his term at the CIA, Professor Deutch served as deputy secretary of the Department of Defense, the number-two job in the Pentagon. He joined the Clinton administration in 1992 as undersecretary for acquisition at DOD. During the Carter administration, Professor Deutch served as the first director of energy research in the Department of Energy and later as undersecretary of energy, a post now held by Professor Ernest Moniz, who is on leave from the Department of Physics.
Professor Deutch, an Amherst College graduate who received the PhD from MIT in 1965 and joined the faculty in 1970, was named an Institute Professor in 1990 after serving five years as provost. He served as dean of the School of Science from 1982-85 and was head of the Department of Chemistry in 1976-77. He has also served frequently as an advisor or consultant to other government and professional organizations.
A version of this article appeared in MIT Tech Talk on February 4, 1998.
