Armenian-American Dr. Vaughan Turekian, formerly the Chief International Officer at the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), was named the fifth Science and Technology Adviser to the Secretary of State on Sept. 8.
Dr. Vaughan Turekian
In his new role, Dr. Turekian will “advise the Secretary of State and the Under Secretary for Economic Growth, Energy, and the Environment on international environment, science, technology, and health matters affecting the foreign policy of the United States,” according to the U.S. State Department.
In his capacity as former Chief International Officer for AAAS, Dr. Turekian was responsible for developing and implementing strategy for increasing AAAS’ global profile and presence, building and maintaining relationships with members of the international science community, and working with the foreign policy community to increase the role of science as an instrument of “soft diplomacy.”
Karl Turekian
Between June 2003 and March 2006, Dr. Turekian served as Special Assistant to the Under Secretary for Global Affairs at the U.S. Department of State. He earned his PhD at the University of Virginia in Environmental Sciences in 2000. There Dr. Turekian defended his dissertation entitled, “The Application of Chemical and Isotopic Tracers to Characterize Aerosol Sources and Processing in Polluted Marine Air.”
Turekian was also a visiting professor at the American University of Armenia in 2000, where he taught graduate courses in Environmental Sciences and Atmospheric Chemistry
Dr. Turekian, who has over 14 years of policy experience, is the son of the late pioneering Yale geochemist Karl Turekian, who passed away in March 2013. Karl Turekian joined the Yale faculty in 1956 as its first geochemist. According to Karl’s 2005 autobiography, his parents were survivors of the Armenian Genocide.
Source: Armenian Weekly
Link: Vaughan Turekian Named Science and Technology Adviser to US Secretary of State