Appleton Named Director of Center for Imaging and Mesoscale Structures

Bill R. Appleton, former deputy director for science and technology at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), has been named director of Harvard’s Center for Imaging and Mesoscale Structures. He will take up his position on April 10.

Appleton received a B.S. in physics from the University of Missouri, Columbia, and a Ph.D. in solid state physics from Rutgers University. He was employed by Rutgers, RCA, and AT&T Bell Laboratories before becoming director of ORNL’s solid state division in 1985. In 1988 he was named ORNL associate director for advanced materials, physical, and neutron sciences; and over the next nine years he served in several scientific leadership positions, all at ORNL, including associate director for the Spallation Neutron Source. During that period he directed research at ORNL, and in 1997 he initiated the $1.4-billion Spallation Neutron Source project – the largest civil construction project in the United States – at ORNL/Lockheed Martin.

As deputy director for science and technology at ORNL, Appleton was responsible for the Laboratory’s science portfolio, for strategic planning, and for the distribution of more than $15 million per year in research and development funds.

The Center for Imaging and Mesoscale Structures, one of several science initiatives announced last year by FAS Dean Jeremy R. Knowles, bridges the disciplines of chemistry, physics, engineering, materials science, biology, and medicine. It is being developed as a state-of-the-art facility for research involving extremely small structures. As director, Appleton will assist the Center’s scientific director, Bertrand Halperin (Physics) in strategic planning for the Center, and will oversee its operations, scientific facilities, financial, human resources, and environmental/safety functions.