ASM/TMS Distinguished Lectureship in Materials & Society

Duncan T. Moore
Rudolf and Hilda Kingslake Professor of Optical Engineering
University of Rochester

Biography: Dr. Moore is the Rudolf and Hilda Kingslake Professor of Optical Engineering and Professor of Biomedical Engineering at the University of Rochester. He is also Special Assistant to the University President and Executive Director of the University, Industry and Government Partnership for Advanced Photonics. Previously, from 1995 until the end of 1997, he served as Dean of Engineering and Applied Sciences at the University.

In 1996, Dr. Moore also served as President of the Optical Society of America (OSA), a professional organization of 12,000 members worldwide. From January 2001 to the present, he has served as Senior Science Advisor at OSA.

The U.S. Senate confirmed Dr. Moore in the fall of 1997 for the position of Associate Director for Technology in The White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP). In this position, which ended December 2000, he worked with Dr. Neal Lane, President Clinton’s Science Advisor, to advise the President on U.S. technology policy, including the Next Generation Internet, Clean Car Initiative, elder tech, crime tech, and NASA. From January through May 2001, Dr. Moore served as Special Advisor to the Acting Director of OSTP.

The PhD degree in Optics was awarded to Dr. Moore in 1974 from the University of Rochester. He had previously earned a master’s degree in Optics at Rochester and a bachelor’s degree in Physics from the University of Maine.

Dr. Moore has extensive experience in the academic, research, business, and governmental arenas of science and technology. He is an expert in gradient-index optics, computeraided design, and the manufacture of optical systems. He has advised nearly 50 graduate thesis students. In addition, Dr. Moore began a one-year appointment as Science Advisor to Senator John D. Rockefeller IV of West Virginia in 1993. He also chaired the successful Hubble Independent Optical Review Panel organized in 1990 to determine the correct prescription of the Hubble Space Telescope. Dr. Moore is also the founder and former president of Gradient Lens Corporation of Rochester, NY, a company that manufactures the high-quality, low-cost Hawkeye boroscope.

Dr. Moore was elected to the National Academy of Engineering in February 1998. He has been the recipient of the Science and Technology Award of the Greater Rochester Metro Chamber of Commerce (1992), Distinguished Inventor of the Year Award of the Rochester Intellectual Property Law Association (1993), Gradient-Index Award of the Japanese Applied Physics Society (1993), and an Honorary Doctor of Science degree from the University of Maine (1995). In 1999, he received the National Engineering Award of the American Association of Engineering Societies and also was recognized as the Engineer of the Year by the Rochester Engineering Society. Most recently, he was the recipient of the 2001 OSA Leadership Award.

Topic: Continued Economic Growth and its Barriers

Abstract: The United States of America has had incredible growth during the last decade. Much of it has been fueled by the investments that we have made in science and technology. An issue is how we sustain this growth. This has become even more critical with the recent events in the United States. The lack of science and math teachers in the K-12 education system has been identified by the Council of Competitiveness as a barrier to continued economic grown. A second barrier may be the lack of sufficient numbers of technically trained workers. A comparison between the U.S. and other countries will be made.