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Name: Turner, James
Current Position: Former Acting Director
Dr. James M. Turner became the agency’s Acting Director on September 3, 2007. A native of Washington, D.C., Turner received his B.A. and PhD in physics from Johns Hopkins and M.I.T., respectively. He taught for five years as an Associate Professor of Physics and Engineering at Morehouse College.
Turner has held several senior management positions at the Department of Energy, primarily concerned with laboratory oversight, nuclear safety and safeguarding nuclear weapons both in the U.S. and internationally. He has worked with foreign governments and international agencies to build their response capabilities to nuclear emergencies. Prior to joining NIST in April 2007, Turner served as the Assistant Deputy Administrator for Nuclear Risk Reduction in the DOE’s National Nuclear Security Administration, where he was responsible for major projects concerning Russia’s permanent shutdown of its last three weapons-grade plutonium-production reactors.
Turner is a member of the American Physical Society, the American Chemical Society, the American Nuclear Society, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, ASTM, the Council on Foreign Relations, IEEE, Phi Beta Kappa, Sigma Xi, and the World Affairs Council. He is also on the Election Assistance Committee (EAC)’s Technical Guidelines and Development Committee.