Tomorrow: NSF Assistant Director to Describe Changes in U.S. Science By Betty Gabrielli
			SEPTEMBER 29, 1999-- Robert Eisenstein '64, head of the Mathematical and Physical Sciences (MPS) Directorate of the National Science Foundation (NSF), will return to campus tomorrow to discuss ways in which the profile of U.S. science is changing in response to new scientific directions and the needs of society. "The increasing internationalization of science is an important factor as well," says Robert Warner, Longman Professor of Natural Science. "Dr. Eisenstein looks forward to discussing with the audience what these things might mean for Oberlin's intellectual future." "The Changing Face of Science: A View from Washington" is the title of the talk Eisenstein will give at 4:30 P.M. in Wright 103. A reception, at 4:15, will precede the event--the first in this year’s Physics Lecture Series. Named assistant director of the MPS in 1997, Eisenstein oversees NSF’s astronomical and mathematical sciences, chemistry, materials research, and physics divisions. He came to the NSF in 1992 as the director of the physics division with a well recognized background in nuclear and particle physics. Eisenstein played significant roles in managing large-scale projects such as the Laser Interferometer Gravity Wave Observatory (LIGO), and in establishing physics-division initiatives in biological physics and complex phenomena. He led the division to greater involvement of undergraduate students in its supported research activities. His own research centers on the solar neutrino problem. Eisenstein received the A.B. degree with high honors in physics from Oberlin, where he studied under Joseph Palmieri, professor of physics, and Robert Weinstock, now professor emeritus of physics. He went on to receive the Ph.D. degree from Yale University in experimental nuclear physics and was a fellow at Israel's Weizmann Institute. Before joining NSF, Eisenstein was on the faculties of the University of Illinois and Carnegie Mellon University.
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