State Department science adviser Norman Neureiter is stepping down in mid-September and will be succeeded by George Atkinson, a University of Arizona chemist.

“This was a three-year appointment and my term is up,” Neureiter said. “I’ve invested a lot of energy and commitment into this job and a key part of my legacy was assuring that the position be passed on and become institutionalized.” With the appointment of Atkinson, Neureiter said, “we’ve succeeded in doing that.”

Atkinson, who became the first American Institute of Physics fellow at the State Department two years ago, said he was attracted to the science adviser position because of “the foundation that Norm and his staff have created. They’ve put us in a position where science is recognized as important within the department.”

That wasn’t the case when Neureiter first took the job on the heels of a 1999 report by the National Research Council—an...

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