Dan Arvizu to be inducted to the HENAAC Hall of Fame
HENAAC and its Hall of Fame Committee, chaired by Hall of Fame Member Linda Cubero, announce that Dan Arvizu, Ph.D., director of the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laborator,y has been selected for induction to the HENAAC Hall of Fame. The induction ceremony will take place during the HENAAC Awards Show on Oct. 11, 2008 at the Hilton Americas Hotel in Houston, Tex. and will be web cast live over the Internet. The HENAAC Awards Show is the centerpiece of the 20th Annual HENAAC Conference to be held October 9-12, 2008 in Houston.
On Jan. 15, 2005 Dan Arvizu became the eighth director of the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL). Located in Golden, CO, NREL began operations in 1977 and is the DOE’s primary laboratory for energy efficiency and renewable energy research and development. The laboratory is operated by the Midwest Research Institute (MRI) and Batelle. Arvizu is also a senior vice president with MRI.
Prior to joining NREL, Arvizu was the chief technology officer for CH2M HILL Companies, Ltd., a position he accepted after a distinguished career at Sandia National Laboratories in Albuquerque, NM. Dr. Arvizu started in career at AT&T Bell Telephone Laboratories where he spent four years.
In 2004, Arvizu was appointed by President George W. Bush and confirmed by the U.S. Senate to serve on the National Science Board, the governing board of the National Science Foundation and the national science policy advisory body to the President and Congress.
Arvizu serves on a number of boards including HENAAC’s. He also sits on several panels and advisory committees including the American Council on Renewable Energy Advisory Board; the Energy R&D Policy Project Advisory Committee at the Harvard Kennedy School; the World Economic Forum’s Global Agenda Council on Alternative Energies; the Singapore Clean Energy International Advisory Panel; and the Colorado Renewable Energy Authority Board of Directors. Currently, he co-chairs the Task Force on Sustainable Energy for the National Science Board.
Arvizu earned a B.S. degree in mechanical engineering from New Mexico State University, and M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in mechanical engineering from Stanford University. It is believed that Arvizu is the first and only Hispanic to become a Director of a US National Lab in our country’s history.
The Hall of Fame was established by HENAAC in 1998 to recognize the world class achievements among its winners. Members of the Hall of Fame have achieved a level of excellence that opens doors to advances in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM), and opens minds about the contributions of Hispanics in these fields. With the induction of the Class of 2006, the Hall of Fame now boasts twenty-eight distinguished members. The Hall of Fame Museum Exhibit, which consists of a graphite portrait of each member, is a one-of-a kind exhibit of our nation’s leading Hispanic engineers and scientists. For more information on the Hall of Fame, please visit our website at www.henaac.org.