James Duderstadt

Dr. James J. Duderstadt is President Emeritus and University Professor of Science and Engineering at the University of Michigan.

Dr. Duderstadt received his baccalaureate degree in electrical engineering with highest honors from Yale University in 1964 and his doctorate in engineering science and physics from the California Institute of Technology in 1967.  After a year as an Atomic Energy Commission Postdoctoral Fellow at Caltech, he joined the faculty of the University of Michigan in 1968 in the Department of Nuclear Engineering.  Dr. Duderstadt became Dean of the College of Engineering in 1981 and Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs in 1986.  He was appointed as President of the University of Michigan in 1988, and served in this role until July 1996.  He currently holds a university-wide faculty appointment as University Professor of Science and Engineering.

Dr. Duderstadt's teaching and research interests have spanned a wide range of subjects in science, mathematics, and engineering, including work in areas such as nuclear fission reactors, thermonuclear fusion, high-powered lasers, computer simulation, science policy, information technology, and higher education. His book on the latter topic, A University for the 21^st Century, is widely regarded for its candid critique of the contemporary university and its visionary conception of the university of the future.

During his career, Dr. Duderstadt has received numerous national awards for his research, teaching, and service activities, including the E. O. Lawrence Award for excellence in nuclear research, the Arthur Holly Compton Prize for outstanding teaching, the Reginald Wilson Award for national leadership in achieving diversity, and the National Medal of Technology for exemplary service to the nation.  He has been elected to numerous honorific societies including the National Academy of Engineering, the American Academy of Arts and Science, Phi Beta Kappa, and Tau Beta Pi.

Dr. Duderstadt has served on and/or chaired numerous public and private boards.  These include the National Science Board; the Executive Council of the National Academy of Engineering, the Committee on Science, Engineering, and Public Policy of the National Academy of Sciences; the Nuclear Energy Research Advisory Committee of the Department of Energy; the Big Ten Athletic Conference; the University of Michigan Hospitals, Unisys, and CMS Energy.

He currently chairs several major national study commissions in areas including federal research policy, higher education, information technology, and nuclear energy.