11/11/97

CONTACT: P.A. Moore, SLAC/SSRL (650) 926-2605;
e-mail xanadu@slac.stanford.edu

The U.S. Senate voted on Sunday, Nov. 9, to confirm President Clinton's nomination of Arthur Bienenstock to serve as associate director for science of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP).

Bienenstock, 62, is professor of materials science and applied physics at Stanford. He stepped down in September as associate director of the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center (SLAC) and director, since 1978, of its Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Laboratory (SSRL) division.

He will report to the president and vice president through John H. Gibbons, assistant to the president for science and technology, and director of the OSTP. The office advises the White House on policy and funding decisions regarding science and technology.

Bienenstock's nomination was approved by the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation before it was passed on to the full Senate for a vote. Also confirmed: Duncan Moore, former dean of engineering for Rochester University, who will take on the post of associate director for technology at OSTP. SR