President Donald Trump has nominated Arvind Raman, the John A. Edwardson Dean of Engineering at Purdue University, to be the next under secretary of Commerce for standards and technology.
According to a congressional notice, Raman’s nomination was referred to the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee on Thursday.
If confirmed, he would also serve as the director of the National Institute of Standards and Technology within the Department of Commerce.
Laurie Locascio took on the position of president and CEO of the American National Standards Institute in January after serving in the dual-hatted role of NIST director and under secretary of commerce for standards and technology.
Who Is Arvind Raman?
According to his LinkedIn profile, Raman has been serving as the John A. Edwardson Dean of Engineering since April 2023. He also serves as the Robert V. Adams Professor at Purdue’s School of Mechanical Engineering.
He previously served as executive associate dean at Purdue University’s College of Engineering.
The commerce under secretary nominee was the founding director of the LASER PULSE Consortium.
Raman’s previous positions at the university include senior associate dean of the faculty and associate dean for Global Engineering Programs at Purdue’s College of Engineering.
The Indian Institute of Technology graduate has a master’s degree in mechanical engineering from Purdue and a PhD in mechanical engineering from the University of California, Berkeley.
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