Dr. James M. Turner is the Deputy Director of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), where he manages NIST’s daily operations and assists in setting strategic directions. NIST has a budget of about $843 million and employs about 2,900 scientists, engineers, technicians, support staff and administrative personnel at two main locations in Gaithersburg, MD and Boulder, CO. Prior to joining NIST in April 2007, Dr. Turner served as the Assistant Deputy Administrator for Nuclear Risk Reduction in the Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration. In that position, he was responsible for major projects in Russia to permanently shutdown their last three weapons-grade plutonium-production reactors. He also worked with foreign governments and international agencies to reduce the consequences of nuclear accidents by strengthening their capability to respond to nuclear emergencies. Prior to that position, Dr. Turner managed one of DOE's San Francisco-San Jose-Oakland Bay Area, California Operations Office. He holds degrees in Physics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Ph.D.) and Johns Hopkins University (B.A.). Prior to joining the DOE, Dr. Turner was an Associate Professor of Physics and Engineering at Morehouse College, where he researched in solar-terrestrial physics, magnetic fusion, and molecular biophysics.