Dr Sethuraman 'Panch' Panchanathan, senior vice president, Office of Knowledge Enterprise Development, ArizonaStateUniversity, was last week appointed to the United States National Science Board by President Barack Obama.
Unanimously confirmed by the Senate last week, Panchanathan, 58, from the Arizona State University, replaces White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) Director Dr Kelvin Droegemeier who served as Acting Director of the National Science Foundation (NSF).
'Everybody says 5G and communication is important.' 'Everybody says automation, robotics, human computing interfaces -- people and machines working together -- is the future.' 'Everybody agrees that cybersecurity is something that is here to stay.' 'Everybody agrees that synthetic biology is important.' 'Instead of outlining thinking about industries for tomorrow and the future, let the evolutionary pathway be built in a way that it promotes robust, creative, thinking.'
At just under 30 per cent of the global total in 2011, the United States remains, by far, the world's largest R&D performer.