James S. Murday, at a young age, decided he wanted to be a second Einstein; he wanted to bring important change to the world. In school he always did better in the sciences and math, so he liked them more. He was most interested in the physical sciences, though he liked biology well enough to consider biophysics for a graduate program. He entered Case Institute of Technology, working with Arthur Benade. Case was across the street from Severance Hall, where music offered scope for the practical application of physics, and Murday wrote his senior thesis on the acoustics of flutes. William Gordon, Murday‘s other major mentor, introduced Murday to nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR).
Fascinated by solid-state physics, Murday entered Cornell University, where he was research assistant for Robert Cotts. Murday‘s interests expanded to include diffusion. At the time, chemistry‘s new pulse techniques provided greater impetus for NMR, and Murday exploited the growing interface between chemistry and physics.
When he finished his PhD he was recruited by Henry Resing into the NMR lab at the Naval Research Laboratory (NRL). Resing was working on protective chemistry and needed a diffusion person. Later, Murday became head of the new surface chemistry branch, an event he regards as a turning point in his career, the first step to nanoscience.
Murday discusses his early experiences in the NRL, beginning with the relationship between NRL and the Office of Naval Research, where he was drafted to survey the state of surface science. He describes how he liked being a decision-maker as well as a lab worker, and further describes his experiences as the man who could see the big picture and could find reasons for various agencies and departments to join the American Vacuum Society (AVS).
Murday joined the AVS, which united chemistry, materials science, and electronics. He helped organize AVS‘s applied division and established the Mid-Atlantic chapter of AVS, thus enhancing his own position there and eventually being elected to the board of directors. When scanning and tunneling microscopes came along, clearly nanostructures were next. AVS officially became the first home of nanoscience. Murday influenced the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency and the National Science Foundation, both of which had funding in abundance, to get involved in nano. Usefulness of nano for unmanned aircraft drew in the Department of Defense, and all then came up with the Interagency Working Group, which hoped to promote nano to the President and Congress of the United States. It took a couple of years and two presidents, but finally Nanometer Science and Engineering Technology (NSET), a subcommittee of the National Science and Technology Council (NSTC), was born and Murday was named Executive Secretary. Murday was also appointed Director of the National Nanotechnology Coordination Office (NNCO), set up to support NSET. NSET has continued to expand its membership as well as to change its purpose. The character of nano has changed with this expansion and with new technology. Murday felt he was getting stale as Head of the NRL Chemistry Division and that new blood was needed, so he accepted the position of Associate Director for Physical Sciences with University of Southern California‘s Office of Research Advancement in Washington, D.C.
Naval Research Laboratory
1970 - 1973
Research Physicist, Chemistry Division
Naval Research Laboratory
1974 - 1980
Head, Advanced Surface Spectroscopy and Carbon Sections
Naval Research Laboratory
1974 - 1987
Part-time Consultant and Program Officer, Office of Naval Research
Naval Research Laboratory
1981 - 1987
Head, Surface Chemistry Division
Naval Research Laboratory
1988 - 2006
SES-4 Head, Chemistry Division
Naval Research Laboratory
1989 - 1992
Chair, Invention Evaluation Board
Naval Research Laboratory
1995
Member, InfoVision/2000 (Library) Steering Committee
Naval Research Laboratory
1995 - 1998
Chair, Performance Management Committee in NRL Lab Demonstration Project
Naval Research Laboratory
1997 - 2002
Chair, Library Committee
Naval Research Laboratory
1999 - 2001
Technical Coordinator, construction project for NRL Nanoscience Building
Naval Research Laboratory
2000
Member, Working Group on Defenses Acquisition Workforce Improvement Act (DAWIA)
Naval Research Laboratory
2000
Chair, NRL E.O. Hulburt Award Selection Committee
Naval Research Laboratory
2000 - 2002
Member, Naval Fuels and Lubricants IPT
Naval Research Laboratory
2001 - 2003
Chief Scientist, Office of Naval Research
Naval Research Laboratory
2001 - 2006
Chair, Naval Working Group on Nanoscience
American Vacuum Society
1977 - 1987
Chair, Mid Atlantic Chapter
American Vacuum Society
1982
Chair, National Symposium Local Arrangements Committee
American Vacuum Society
1982 - 1985
Chair, Trustees
American Vacuum Society
1986
Chair, National Symposium Local Arrangements Committee
American Vacuum Society
1986 - 1988
Editorial Board, JVST
American Vacuum Society
1987 - 1988
Board of Directors
American Vacuum Society
1991 - 1993
President cycle
American Vacuum Society
1996
Chair, Nanometer Structures Division
American Vacuum Society
1998 - 2001
Chair, Intersociety Interactions Committee
American Vacuum Society
1993 - 2007
Member, Long Range Planning Committee
American Vacuum Society
1999 - 2001
Member, Long Range Technical Planning Committee
American Chemical Society
1983 - 1985
Executive Committee, Colloid and Surface Chemistry Division
American Chemical Society
1988
Symposium Co-chairperson 3rd Chemical Congress of North America
American Chemical Society
1991
Symposium Co-chairperson 4th Chemical Congress of North America
American Institute of Physics
1986 - 1989
Governing Board
American Institute of Physics
1988 - 1991
Member, Nominating Committee
American Institute of Physics
1990
Chair, Nominating Committee
American Institute of Physics
1991 - 1993
Chair, Development Committee
American Institute of Physics
1994 - 1996
Member, Committee of Committees
American Institute of Physics
1996
Chair, Committee of Committees
International Union of Vacuum Science, Techniques and Applications
1992 - 1995
Chair, Steering Committee on Science and Technology of Nanometer Structures
International Union of Vacuum Science, Techniques and Applications
1995 - 1998
Chair, Nanometer Structures Division
Institute of Physics, United Kingdom
1994 - 2001
Editorial Board, Nanotechnology Journal
Federation of Materials Societies
1995 - 2003
Trustee
Department of Defense
1997 - 1997
Directory of Research (acting), Research and Engineering
Department of Defense
1999 - 2006
Chair/member, Committee on Nanoscience Strategic Research Objective
Department of Defense
1999 - 2006
NSTC Nanoscale Science, Engineering and Technology Subcommittee
Office of Science and Technology Policy
1999 - 2006
Executive Secretary, NSTC Nanoscale Science, Engineering and Technology Subcommittee
National Nanotechnology Coordination Office
2001 - 2003
Director (half time position)
University/College (General)
2003 - present
Chair, External Advisory Board for University of South Carolina NanoCenter
University/College (General)
2004 - 2006
Chair, External Advisory Board for University of Pennsylvania Nano-Bio Interface Center
University/College (General)
2008 - present
Member, International Advisory Board, King Abdullah Institute For Nanotechnology
University/College (General)
2009 - present
Member, External Advisory Board for InterNano at University of Massachusetts, Amherst
University/College (General)
2010 - present
Member, External Advisory Board for Nanolink at Dakota County Technical College
Office of Research Advancement, University of Southern California, Washinton, D.C.
2006 - present
Associate Director, Physical Sciences