Walter Copan

Last updated

Walter Copan
Walter G. Copan official photo.jpg
Copan in 2015
Under Secretary of Commerce for Standards and Technology
In office
October 16, 2017 January 20, 2021
Thesis Carbon-13 and Nitrogen-15 nuclear magnetic resonance studies of rhodopsin and bacteriorhodopsin (NMR)  (1982)

Walter Copan is an American chemist and government official who served as the under secretary of commerce for standards and technology from 2017 to 2021. Prior to assuming that role, he worked as president and CEO of IP Engineering Group Corporation and as a board member of Rocky Mountain Innovation Partners.

Contents

Early life and education

Copan received a Bachelor of Arts degree in chemistry from Western Reserve College in 1975 and a his Ph.D. in physical chemistry from Case Western Reserve University in 1982. [1]

Career

Copan previously served as managing director of technology commercialization and partnerships at Brookhaven National Laboratory and as technology transfer at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory. During his time at Brookhaven, he led a pilot program across the United States Department of Energy called Agreements for Commercializing Technology. The program was praised for making intellectual property agreements between businesses and government more flexible and for promoting an entrepreneurial culture. [2] He led Clean Diesel Technologies onto NASDAQ while serving as CTO and executive vice president. Copan also had a 28-year career with Lubrizol, where he was active in research, development, and business unit management. [3] [4] At Lubrizol, Copan led the company's European research and development during the late 1980s and early 1990s, including working with countries that had recently broken away from the Soviet Union. [5]

Under secretary of commerce for standards and technology

In September 2017, Copan was nominated by President Donald Trump to become under secretary of commerce for standards and technology. [6] Copan's nomination was supported by the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research. [7] He was confirmed unanimously by the United States Senate in October 2017.

At that time, Copan said his top priority in the role would be to implement the Cybersecurity Framework, a National Institute of Standards and Technology effort to improve network security across federal agencies and industry. [2]

Post-government career

As a political appointee, he left office on January 20, 2021. [8] [9] In July 2021, Copan joined Colorado School of Mines as the Vice President of Research and Technology Transfer. [10] In 2022, Copan contributed to a letter to the United States Department of Justice signed by former federal officials of both parties that criticized the Biden administration's proposed policy changes for standard-essential patents.

Related Research Articles

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) is an agency of the United States Department of Commerce whose mission is to promote American innovation and industrial competitiveness. NIST's activities are organized into physical science laboratory programs that include nanoscale science and technology, engineering, information technology, neutron research, material measurement, and physical measurement. From 1901 to 1988, the agency was named the National Bureau of Standards.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration</span> US government scientific agency

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is a US scientific and regulatory agency charged with forecasting weather, monitoring oceanic and atmospheric conditions, charting the seas, conducting deep-sea exploration, and managing fishing and protection of marine mammals and endangered species in the US exclusive economic zone. The agency is part of the United States Department of Commerce and is headquartered in Silver Spring, Maryland.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award</span> US business award

The Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award recognizes U.S. organizations in the business, health care, education, and nonprofit sectors for performance excellence. The Baldrige Award is the highest formal recognition of the performance excellence of both public and private U.S. organizations given by the President of the United States. It is administered by the Baldrige Performance Excellence Program, which is based at and managed by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), an agency of the U.S. Department of Commerce.

Information security standards are techniques generally outlined in published materials that attempt to protect the cyber environment of a user or organization. This environment includes users themselves, networks, devices, all software, processes, information in storage or transit, applications, services, and systems that can be connected directly or indirectly to networks.

The Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE) is the highest honor bestowed by the United States federal government on outstanding scientists and engineers in the early stages of their independent research careers. The White House, following recommendations from participating agencies, confers the awards annually. To be eligible for a Presidential Award, an individual must be a U.S. citizen, national, or permanent resident. Some of the winning scientists and engineers receive up to a five-year research grant.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">National Science and Technology Council</span> The NSTC establishes national goals for science and technology.

The National Science and Technology Council (NSTC) is a council in the Executive Branch of the United States. It is designed to coordinate science and technology policy across the branches of federal government.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Under Secretary of Commerce for Oceans and Atmosphere</span>

The under secretary of commerce for oceans and atmosphere, or USC(OA), is a high-ranking official in the United States Department of Commerce and the principal advisor to the United States secretary of commerce on the environmental and scientific activities of the department. The under secretary is dual hatted as the administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration within the Commerce Department.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Networking and Information Technology Research and Development</span> NiTRD

The Networking and Information Technology Research and Development (NITRD) program consists of a group of U.S. federal agencies to research and develop information technology (IT) capabilities to empower Federal missions; support U.S. science, engineering, and technology leadership; and bolster U.S. economic competitiveness.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Patrick D. Gallagher</span> American physicist

Patrick David Gallagher is an American physicist and former chancellor of the University of Pittsburgh. He previously served as acting United States deputy secretary of commerce from 2013 to 2014 and director of the National Institute of Standards and Technology from 2009 and 2014.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Manufacturing USA</span> Advanced industrial policy research network

Manufacturing USA, previously known as the National Network for Manufacturing Innovation, is a network of research institutes in the United States that focuses on developing manufacturing technologies through public-private partnerships among U.S. industry, universities, and federal government agencies. Modeled similar to Germany's Fraunhofer Institutes, the network currently consists of 16 institutes. The institutes work independently and together on a number of advanced technologies.

The National Cybersecurity Center of Excellence (NCCoE) is a US government organization that builds and publicly shares solutions to cybersecurity problems faced by U.S. businesses. The center, located in Rockville, Maryland, was established in 2012 through a partnership with the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), the state of Maryland, and Montgomery County. The center is partnered with nearly 20 market-leading IT companies, which contribute hardware, software and expertise.

The National Cybersecurity FFRDC (NCF) is a federally funded research and development center (FFRDC) operated by MITRE Corporation. It supports the U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology's (NIST) National Cybersecurity Center of Excellence (NCCoE). NCF is the first and, as of March 2017, only federally funded research and development center dedicated solely to cybersecurity. The NCF is located at 9700 Great Seneca Hwy in Rockville, Maryland.

The President's Commission on Enhancing National Cybersecurity is a Presidential Commission formed on April 13, 2016, to develop a plan for protecting cyberspace, and America's economic reliance on it. The commission released its final report in December 2016. The report made recommendations regarding the intertwining roles of the military, government administration and the private sector in providing cyber security. Chairman Donilon said of the report that its coverage "is unusual in the breadth of issues" with which it deals.

NIST Cybersecurity Framework (CSF) is a set of guidelines for mitigating organizational cybersecurity risks, published by the US National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) based on existing standards, guidelines, and practices. The framework "provides a high level taxonomy of cybersecurity outcomes and a methodology to assess and manage those outcomes", in addition to guidance on the protection of privacy and civil liberties in a cybersecurity context. It has been translated to many languages, and is used by several governments and a wide range of businesses and organizations.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Andrew Bremberg</span> American lawyer and diplomat (born 1979)

Andrew P. Bremberg is an American attorney and political advisor who most recently served as Permanent Representative of the United States of America to the Office of the United Nations and Other International Organizations in Geneva. He previously served as Assistant to the President and the director of the Domestic Policy Council for U.S. President Donald Trump.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Willie E. May</span> American chemist and civil servant

Willie E. May is an American chemist who was director of the United States' National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and the U.S. Under Secretary of Commerce for Standards and Technology. He has been active in international organizations, collaborating with others in Brazil, China, and the European Union.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cheryl L. Shavers</span> American chemist

Cheryl L. Shavers is an American chemist, engineer, and businesswoman. After gaining a degree in chemistry, she worked as an engineer at Motorola. Shavers returned to university for a few years, gaining a PhD in solid state chemistry, before returning to private industry. Shavers worked at increasingly senior levels in Silicon Valley, at Hewlett Packard and Intel. She served as Under Secretary of Commerce for Technology in the Clinton Administration (1999–2001), and is a registered patent agent in the US Patent and Trademark Office. After leaving government service in 2001, she established a consultancy and strategy business, Global Smarts Inc. Shavers was inducted into the Women In Technology International (WITI) Hall of Fame and the Hall of Fame of the Arizona State University's College of Liberal Arts and Sciences.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Neil Jacobs</span> American scientist and government official (born 1973)

Neil Andrew Jacobs, Jr. is an American scientist and former government official who served as the acting Under Secretary of Commerce for Oceans and Atmosphere and Administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Laurie E. Locascio</span> American biomedical engineer (born 1961)

Laurie Ellen Locascio is an American biomedical engineer, analytical chemist, and former academic administrator serving as the under secretary of commerce for standards and technology and the director of National Institute of Standards and Technology. From 2017 to 2021, Locascio was vice president for research of University of Maryland, College Park and University of Maryland, Baltimore.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mojdeh Bahar</span> American patent attorney and government official

Mojdeh Bahar is an American patent attorney and government official specialized in technology transfer. She is the associate director for innovation and industry services at the National Institute of Standards and Technology. Bahar previously worked as the assistant administrator for technology transfer at the Agricultural Research Service. She was chief of the cancer branch in the NIH Office of Technology Transfer.

References

  1. Copan, Walter George (1982). Carbon-13 and Nitrogen-15 nuclear magnetic resonance studies of rhodopsin and bacteriorhodopsin (NMR) (Ph.D. thesis). Case Western Reserve University. OCLC   8724955. ProQuest   303068070.
  2. 1 2 Service, Robert (September 18, 2017). "Cybersecurity and technology transfer seen as top priorities for NIST director nominee". Science Magazine. Retrieved October 9, 2017.
  3. "President Donald J. Trump Announces Intent to Nominate Personnel to Key Administration Posts". whitehouse.gov . September 12, 2017. Retrieved October 9, 2017 via National Archives.
  4. Martin, Nichols (September 14, 2017). "Walter Copan Nominated NIST Director, Commerce Undersecretary for Standards & Tech". ExecutiveGov. Retrieved October 9, 2017.
  5. Widener, Andrea (September 14, 2017). "Chemist nominated to lead the U.S. National Institute of Standards & Technology". Chemical & Engineering News. Retrieved October 9, 2017.
  6. Berliner, Ben (September 13, 2017). "Walter Copan tapped to lead NIST". FCW. Retrieved October 9, 2017.
  7. "UCAR statement on nomination of Walter Copan to head NIST". University Corporation for Atmospheric Research. September 15, 2017. Retrieved October 9, 2017.
  8. "Walter Copan". NIST. November 22, 2017.
  9. "Draft Standard-Patent Policy Draws Former Officials' Opposition". news.bloomberglaw.com. Retrieved February 28, 2022.
  10. "Home". Research and Technology Transfer. Retrieved January 5, 2023.
Government offices
Preceded by
Kent Rochford (acting)
Willie E. May
9th Director of the National Institute of Standards and Technology
2017 – 2021
Succeeded by
James K. Olthoff (acting)
Laurie Locascio