Former National Science Foundation Head to Speak March 14 as Part of Lecture Series

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Joe Bordogna, former deputy director of the National Science Foundation, will speak on “The University in a Changing Universe: Anticipating the Future,” at 2:30 p.m. Tuesday, March 14, in Engineering Hall Room 209.

Bordogna’s address, a part of the Chancellor’s Distinguished Lecture Series, will focus on a university’s roles and responsibilities in the modern high-velocity and complex world. He will discuss the challenges of universities becoming more inclusive, innovative, integrative, adaptable and connected, while also anticipating the changes on the horizon and their consequences. Likewise, Bordogna will outline the role of the learned and learner in taking on the critical roles required for sustaining a prosperous and successful nation.

Bordogna is currently the Alfred Fitler Moore Professor of Engineering at the University of Pennsylvania. He has also served as director of The Moore School of Electrical Engineering, dean of the School of Engineering and Applied Science, and resident faculty master of Stouffer College House, a living-learning student residence at the University of Pennsylvania. Prior to his academic career, he was a line officer in the U.S. Navy and an engineer in industry at RCA. He was a founder of the Philadelphia Regional Introduction for Minorities to Engineering and served on the board of the Philadelphia Partnership for Education, community coalitions providing, respectively, supportive academic programs for K-12 students and teachers.

From 1991 to 2005, he served at the National Science Foundation, first as head of the directorate for engineering, then as deputy director and chief operating officer. Complementary to these tasks he was a member of the President's Management Council and chaired committees on manufacturing, environmental technologies, and automotive technologies in the President's National Science and Technology Council. He also served on the President's Committee on the National Medal of Science, the U.S. government's Technology Reinvestment Project, the U.S.-Japan Joint Optoelectronics Project, the NSTC Committee on Environment and Natural Resources, and the NSTC Committee on Technological Innovation.

He has made contributions to the engineering profession in a variety of areas including optical and radio communications, electro-optic recording materials, holographic video playback systems, educational innovation, and management of technological innovation.  He was awarded a commendation as Operations Officer of the Flagship of the naval unit that achieved the world's first space capsule recovery and was a member of the team that built the first laser diode optical communication system that operated at room temperature.

Bordogna holds Bachelor of  Science in Electrical Engineering and a doctoral degree from the University of Pennsylvania and a master’s degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. During 1998, he served as worldwide president of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers.