Philip Shapira has been named chair for a new National Academies committee that will examine "21st Century Manufacturing: The Role of the Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP) Program of the National Institute of Standards and Technology." Shapira is Professor in the IAC School of Public Policy and the University of Manchester.

Organized through the National Academies Board on Science, Technology, and Economic Policy, the new ad hoc committee comprises a panel of U.S. and international industrial, university, and policy experts. The committee will hold a series of fact-finding workshops and commission research papers and case studies to review and document the MEP program's current achievements, challenges, and new opportunities; identify and review similar national programs from abroad in order to draw on foreign practices, funding levels, and accomplishments as a point of reference; and discuss current needs and initiatives in light of the global focus on advanced manufacturing. Its first workshop will be held this month in Washington, DC.

Read about Philip Shapira