Charles M. Vest

Charles "Chuck" Marstiller Vest (September 9, 1941 – December 12, 2013) was a U.S. educator and engineer. He served as President of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology from 1990 until December 2004.^[1] He was succeeded as President by Susan Hockfield. Vest served on the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology and chaired the Task Force on the Future of Science Programs at the Department of Energy. At the request of President Bill Clinton, he chaired the Committee on the Redesign of the International Space Station, which revitalized the space station at a time when its future was in question.°^[2] On February 6, 2004, he was appointed to the Iraq Intelligence Commission by President George W. Bush. He was later appointed president of the National Academy of Engineering.

Vest was born in Morgantown, West Virginia in 1941.^[3] Prior to his ascension to the MIT presidency, he served as the provost and professor of mechanical engineering at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, Michigan, where he earned a master of science in engineering degree in 1964 and a PhD in 1967, both in mechanical engineering. He graduated from West Virginia University in Morgantown, West Virginia, in 1963 with a bachelor of science degree in mechanical engineering.

Cambridge University awarded him an honorary doctorate in law in 2006. Harvard University has also given him an honorary degree in 2005. In 2011 Tufts University awarded him an honorary doctorate in science. He gave the Tufts University Commencement address in 2011.

Vest was also a member of the USA Science and Engineering Festival's Advisory Board.^[4]

On December 12, 2013, he died of pancreatic cancer, aged 72.^[2][5][6]

References

External links

• National Academy of Engineering page
• Appearances on C-SPAN
• Works by or about Charles M. Vest in libraries (WorldCat catalog)
• Chuck Vest Playlist Appearance on WMBR's Dinnertime Sampler radio show March 31, 2004