John B. Slaughter

A former director of the National Science Foundation, president of Occidental College in Los Angeles and chancellor at the University of Maryland, College Park, Dr. John B. Slaughter has a long and distinguished background as a leader in the education, engineering and scientific communities. He is a member of the National Academy of Engineering (NAE), where he has served on the Committee on Minorities in Engineering, chaired its Action Forum on Engineering Workforce Diversity and is a current member of the NAE Council. Slaughter is also a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the Tau Beta Pi Honorary Engineering Society. In 1993, he was named to the American Society for Engineering Education Hall of Fame, and in 2001 was named an Eminent Member of the Eta Kappa Nu Society, the honorary society of electrical engineering.

Slaughter began his professional career as an electronics engineer at General Dynamics before spending 15 years at the U.S. Navy Electronics Laboratory in San Diego, where he rose to the position of department head for Information Technology. He has been director of the Applied Physics Laboratory and professor of electrical engineering at the University of Washington; academic vice president and provost at Washington State University; and most recently, The Irving R. Melbo Professor of Leadership in Education at the University of Southern California. He has served as president and CEO of the National Action Council for Minorities in Engineering since August 2000.

He serves on the board of directors at Solutia, Inc. In February 2006, he was appointed to the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology.

Slaughter earned a doctorate in engineering science from the University of California, San Diego; a Master of Science in engineering from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) and a Bachelor of Science in electrical engineering from Kansas State University. He holds honorary degrees from more than 25 institutions. Winner of the Martin Luther King, Jr. National Award in 1997 and UCLA’s Medal of Excellence in 1989, Slaughter was also honored with the first “U.S. Black Engineer of the Year” award in 1987 and the Arthur M. Bueche Award from the NAE in 2004.

Married to Dr. Ida Bernice Slaughter, an educational consultant and former school administrator, Slaughter has two children, a son, Dr. John Brooks Slaughter, Jr., DVM, and a daughter, Ms. Jacqueline Michelle Slaughter-Bolden.