Lane, Neal

Neal F. Lane is Senior Fellow in Science and Technology Policy at the James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy. He is also the Malcolm Gillis University Professor at Rice University and professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy. Prior to returning to Rice University, Lane served in the federal government as assistant to the president for science and technology and director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP), from August 1998 to January 2001, and as director of the National Science Foundation (NSF) and member (ex officio) of the National Science Board, from October 1993 to August 1998. Before his post with NSF, Lane was provost and professor of physics at Rice University in Houston, a position he had held since 1986. He first came to Rice in 1966, when he joined the department of physics as an assistant professor. In 1972, he became professor of physics and space physics and astronomy. He left Rice from mid-1984 to 1986 to serve as chancellor of the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs. In addition, from 1979 to 1980, while on leave from Rice, he worked at the NSF as director of the Division of Physics. Lane received his PhD, MS, and BS in physics from the University of Oklahoma.