Virginia Tech's Leonard K. Peters To Head Pacific Northwest National Laboratory

Leonard K. Peters, vice provost for research at Virginia Tech, will become Battelle senior vice president and director of the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in Richland, Wash. The announcement was issued at time today by Carl Kohrt, CEO of Battelle. Peters assumes his new position on April 1.

Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) is a U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) facility doing research in the areas of environment, energy, national security, and fundamental sciences. Battelle, based in Columbus,Ohio, has operated the laboratory for DOE since 1965.

"This is a significant opportunity for Dr. Peters for which his 10 years at Virginia Tech, and indeed his entire professional career, have prepared him well," says Virginia Tech President Charles Steger. "Len's leadership at Virginia Tech, including his support and respect for the faculty and students, increased the institute's stature as a research university making it realistic for us to pursue top-30 status."

Peters came to Virginia Tech from the University of Kentucky in July 1993 to become Vice Provost for Research and Dean of theGraduate School. At Tech, he established the ASPIRES program to stimulate new research capabilities, which provided more than $8 million in seed money enabling faculty members to advance their scholarship and submit proposals for further sponsorship. Research expenditures have grown from $135.8 million to more than $230 million at Virginia Tech since 1993, and royalties from patents and copyrights have grown from $626,000 to $2.3 million.

"I've enjoyed being a member of the university community and am proud to have had the privilege to work with the distinguished faculty at Virginia Tech," says Peters.

"During the year and a half that I've worked with Len, I've valued the wonderful leadership he provides for the research community at Virginia Tech," says Provost Mark McNamee. "He is a successful planner and innovator and an articulate advocate for research and scholarship at a critical time in our growth as a research university. I wish him great success as he takes on a wonderful new opportunity."

Peters initiated a number of partnerships, including one with Carilion Health Services and the University of Virginia to create the Carilion Biomedical Institute. He was instrumental in bringing together six core universities led by the University of Tennessee (UT) and Battelle Memorial Institute that won the management and operating contract for the U.S. Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

"Now we look forward to strengthened ties with the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory and with the Department of Energy," says Steger, "and we wish Dr. Peters continued success."

Peters says, "PNNL is an outstanding scientific organization doing excellent research in energy and environment and other areas important to our nation's science and technology agenda.  I am looking forward to the associations and contributions I will be able to make to the Laboratory and to the community as we collectively work to meet important DOE missions."

As dean of the GraduateSchool, he expanded tuition remission scholarships for graduate students, increased course offerings to part-time students by increasing resources to departments offering off-campus programs, and supported aGraduateSchool (John Eaton), computer science (Ed Fox), and library (Gail McMillan) collaboration to create the electronic theses and dissertation (ETD) project, which became an international model. TheGraduateSchool was split from the research division in 2001.

While vice chancellor for research and graduate studies at the University ofKentucky's Lexington campus from 1988 until 1990, Peters saw external funding for research increase 50 percent. He also expanded programs for minority students and saw a 14 percent increase in minority enrollment.

Dr. Peters' academic training and background are in chemical engineering, with all of his degrees from the University of Pittsburgh. His research and teaching have been regional and global-scale atmospheric chemistry and pollution. He joined the University ofKentucky faculty in chemical engineering in 1974, created a nationally-recognized aerosol chemistry/physics research group in chemical engineering, and developed a personal, nationally-recognized research program in atmospheric modeling that received continuous external funding for 15 years, including from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Department of Energy, and NASA.

Peters chaired the EPA advisory committee on global climatic change research programs from 1987 to 1990, and received the National Science Foundation Award in Recognition of Contributions to Science and Technology in Kentucky in 1990. He led a group of 25 faculty and staff researchers to make a comprehensive study of waste management inKentucky. The report provided the framework for the plan enacted by the state legislature in 1991. He was a visiting senior scientist with the PNNL atmospheric sciences department in 1991-92.

"We are very excited that Dr. Peters will be joining Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, " said Dr. Raymond L. Orbach, director for DOE's Office of Science. "He has a strong track record in science and technology and is a proven innovator in research and public-private partnerships. Just as important, he has been nationally recognized for his science and community service innovations at the state and local level."

Peters has served on a number of councils and boards, including Oak Ridge Associated Universities, chairing the board of directors three times. He is presently on the National Association of State Universities and Land Grant Colleges Commission on Research Policy and Graduate Education executive committee, UT-Battelle board of governors for Oak Ridge National Laboratory, and the Virginia Research and Technology Advisory Commission.

In addition, Peters is president of Virginia Tech Intellectual Properties Inc. and serves on the boards of the Virginia Tech Corporate Research Center and the venture capital partnership, Triad Investors Inc.

He is a member of the Sigma Xi Research Honor Society, American Society for Engineering Education, American Institute of Chemical Engineers, Association for Women in Science, American Association of Aerosol Research, and Air and Waste Management Association, and a Distinguished Alumnus of the University of Pittsburgh College of Engineering Department of Chemical and Petroleum Engineering, University ofPittsburgh.

For more information about PNNL, contact:

Greg Koller, manager of media & external communications, 509-372-4864 or greg.koller@pnl.gov, or visit www.pnl.gov/news or www.pnl.gov/news/back/pnnl-bg.htm