Bush finds NIST nominee

President Bush intends to nominate a White House science and technology policy official to become director of the National Institute of Standards and Technology.

Bush’s nominee is William Jeffrey, senior director for homeland and national security and assistant director for space and aeronautics in the White House’s Office of Science and Technology Policy.

Jeffrey would replace Hratch Semerjian, who is serving as acting director at NIST. The Commerce Department agency has had no full-time, permanent director since February 2004.

Jeffrey formerly served as deputy director of the Advanced Technology Office at the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency in the Defense Department and as assistant deputy director for technology in the Defense Airborne Reconnaissance Office.

He is a graduate of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and has a master’s degree and Ph.D. from Harvard University.