Harris Named Jefferson Science Fellow by the National Academies of Science and Engineering
University Distinguished Professor and William Lincoln Smith Chair Vincent Harris has been named a 2020-2021 Jefferson Science Fellow. The Jefferson Science Fellowship Program is designed to advance and build capacity for science, technology, and engineering expertise. It is administered by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine and supported by the U.S. Department of State and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). Jefferson Science Fellows spend one year at the State Department or USAID for an on-site assignment in Washington, D.C., that may involve extended stays at U.S. foreign embassies and missions. Harris is a Jefferson Science Fellow with the U.S. Department of State, Office of Environmental Quality and Transboundary Issues with the Bureau of Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs.
As a Jefferson Science Fellow, Harris will focus on building a team of specialists to monitor, gather, and prioritize information regarding interactions among U.S. and regional players influenced by China enacting its Belt Road Initiative (BRI). The BRI is a global development project initiated by the Chinese government in 2013. The undertaking involves infrastructure development and investments in more than 70 countries containing more than two-thirds of the world’s population. The Chinese government calls the project an effort to establish regional connectivity that gives rise to a brighter future for affected countries. However, many see it as China’s effort to further influence regional and global markets and politics. The overarching goals guiding Harris are to identify and establish sound governmental policy and develop international strategies that effectively address the needs of modern societies. Harris is uniquely prepared for such challenges due to his extensive experience in Asia as: Visiting Distinguished Professor at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, Huazhong University Science of Technology (HUST, Wuhan), and University of Electronic Science and Technology of China (UESTC, Chengdu)); Foreign Expert Fellow (Inner Mongolia, Chinese State Administration of Foreign Expert Affairs); Visiting Professor at Tokyo-Tech; Visiting Distinguished Professor at Wayamba University of Sri Lanka; and, Fulbright Fellow (Sri Lanka), among others. In these roles, he has brought together international science and technology communities and fostered cross-cultural exchanges among leading academicians, statesmen and stateswomen, and hundreds of students and scholars.
Harris joined Northeastern University in 2003 after a 14-year career at the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory (Washington D.C.) where he held positions as a member of the technical staff, Head of the Complex Materials Section, and Head of the Materials Physics Branch. His research interests encompass a wide range of functional materials and their applications in devices and systems used principally in high-frequency applications such as sensors, radar and communication platforms, nanotechnology, power electronics, and medical diagnostics and therapeutics. He has published more than 400 technical articles in peer-reviewed science and engineering journals, including book chapters, review articles, and invited technical feature articles.
As recognition of scholarly achievement, he has been elevated to Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), American Physical Society (APS), Distinguished Fellow, International Engineering and Technology Institute, Institute of Physics (GB), J. William Fulbright International Scholars Program, and the Foreign Expert Program of the Chinese State Administration of Foreign Expert Affairs (on the topic of Rare Earth Physics and Magnetism), among other respected societies.
Vince Harris is a veteran of the U.S. Coast Guard.