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Administrator Is Nominated As Secretary Of Air Force Departing Healy Appoints Immunologist, Richard J. Hodes, As Director of National Institute On Aging Obituary ~ Clarence M. Zener AUTHOR: Ron Kaufman, pp.21 Author: Ron Kaufman Sheila E. Widnall, associate provost and a professor of aeronautics and mathematics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, was nominated last month by President Clinton to become secretary of the Air Force. Pending Senate confirmation, Widnall would become the first woman to head one of the military services. At press time, a Senate confirmation hearing had not been scheduled. In a statement issued on July 2, Clinton praised Widnall as "a woman of high achievement, a respected scientist, a skilled administrator, and a dedicated citizen." He added, "I am confident she will do an outstanding job of guiding the Air Force through this period of post-Cold War change." Though she has never been in military service, Widnall says her experience as a scientist and an administrator gives her the knowledge and background needed for success. "I'm a card-carrying member of the scientific community," says Widnall, 54, who was president of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 1987-88. "Certainly, I'm very active in science and science policy circles in Washington, D.C., so I suppose in some sense that's a bit of an unusual background for a secretary of the Air Force. But I think it's something we ought to celebrate. "I'm an aeronautical engineer, so in a sense, my career has been devoted to flight." Widnall's research has explored the fluid dynamics of aircraft turbulence. She says, "My broader background of science policy issues, along with my specific background in aeronautics and space technologies and the ability to understand and work with those ideas, is, I believe, absolutely critical." A member of the MIT faculty for 28 years, Widnall predicts a smooth transition from her current academic surroundings to government service. "I actually believe it's going to work out very well," she says. "What will be valuable to me is the ability to build consensus on really important issues, the ability to get people to work together, and the ability to frame issues with a high technical content." Widnall worked in the government once before, as director of university research for the Department of Transportation in 1974-75. Widnall received her B.S. in 1960 and her Sc.D. in 1964 from MIT. She joined the MIT faculty as an assistant professor in 1964, becoming an associate professor in 1970 and a professor in 1974. If confirmed, she would become the second Air Force secretary from MIT, the first being Robert C. Seamans, Jr., a professor of aeronautics and astronautics, who served in the post from 1969 to 1973. Widnall has also been a member of the Board of Visitors for the U.S. Air Force Academy from 1978 to 1984 and was the board's chairman from 1980 to 1982. --Ron Kaufman National Institute On Aging Richard J. Hodes has assumed the position of director of the National Institute on Aging (NIA), becoming one of the last appointments by outgoing National Institutes of Health director Bernadine Healy. Hodes, who began at NIA in June, comes to the institute after 20 years as an immunology researcher at the National Cancer Institute (NCI). Most recently, he served as chief of the Immune Regulation Section of NCI's Experimental Immunology Branch. Created by Congress in 1974 as one of NIH's 13 institutes, NIA conducts and supports biomedical, social, and behavioral research on the aging process. Its fiscal year 1994 budget of about $400 million includes funding for studies on Alzheimer's disease, osteoporosis, and other medical conditions associated with the elderly. Approximately 10 percent of the NIA budget supports in- house researchers, while the majority supports thousands of individual-investigator grants across the United States. "The strength of the institute is the diversity of approaches it takes in its aging-related research," says Hodes, 49. "I have an appreciation for the quality and potential applicability for research in the basic sciences, behavioral sciences, and clinical geriatric gerontology, as well. "Part of the excitement of this job is looking for the best investments that one can make in each of these areas as unique opportunities arise." For example, Hodes explains that in the study of geriatric frailty, using different research approaches strengthens the institute's entire scientific effort. He says explorations in the behavioral and clinical disciplines, such as finding ways to improve balance and strength by dietary manipulation, are just as important as molecular studies, which may uncover the biological basis for decreases in muscle function. "What I'm suggesting," he says, "is that we use the behavioral and clinical disciplines so we do the best job we can at treating and minimizing the disease in the current aging generation--while at the same time looking at the underlying molecular processes so we can do an even better job at prevention in the decades to come." Hodes received his bachelor's degree from Yale University in 1965 and his M.D. from Harvard University Medical School in 1971. He started as an immunology researcher at NCI in 1973. "My career at the cancer institute has mostly been focused on basic science in the area of molecular and cellular immunology," he says. "I hope this provides me with a critical appreciation for excellence in basic science, which is a necessary part of NIA's program. In addition, I've had training in internal medicine and clinical oncology, so I am also appreciative of the need to treat the current clinical problems of the elderly." Hodes's most cited paper, with nearly 190 citations, is "In vitro generation of suppressor cell activity--suppression of in vitro induction of cell-related cytotoxicity," Journal of Immunology, 116:167, 1976. Obituary - Clarence M. Zener Clarence M. Zener, a professor of physics at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, died July 2. He was 87 years old. Zener was a pioneer in the field of internal friction, a heat-to-energy conversion process initiated by vibrating metal. Zener received his Ph.D. in physics from Harvard University in 1929. Throughout his career, he taught at many schools, including Washington University in St. Louis (1935-37) and the City College of New York (1937-40). He was dean at Texas A&M University before joining Carnegie Mellon in 1968.

Administrator Is Nominated As Secretary Of Air Force

Aug 22, 1993

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