Center for Nondestructive Evaluation director finalists will give open seminars today and Wednesday from 1:30 to 3 p.m.

The seminars are part of a two-day interview schedule to choose one of the finalists for the director position.

Today’s seminar will be conducted by Donald Boyd, manager of the Engineering and Analytic Sciences Department for Energy Division at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in Richland, Wash.

Bruce Thompson, CNDE deputy director and professor of aerospace engineering and engineering mechanics at Iowa State, will conduct Wednesday’s seminar.

Thompson said he and Boyd have been asked to discuss five items during their seminars.

They will review their technical contributions to the nondestructive evaluation field, provide their visions of where the field is going in the next 10 years, provide a vision for how the center fits into their visions of the field, discuss what steps the center needs to take given that vision, and discuss their particular plans for implementing those steps.

Boyd has been with Pacific Northwest National Laboratory since 1989. He has also served as general manager and senior engineer at Sigma Research in Richland, as a group leader and engineer at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in Livermore, Calif., and as an engineer for Block Engineering, Inc. in Cambridge.

Boyd received his Ph.D. from the University of California, Davis in 1989 in material science and engineering. He also earned an M.S. in mechanical engineering in 1977 from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge.

Thompson has been with ISU since 1980, serving in various positions including professor of materials science and engineering, professor of aerospace engineering and engineering mechanics, and deputy director of CNDE.

He has also worked as senior scientist at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Ames Laboratory, associate director for science and technology at Ames Lab, technical staff member and group leader at Rockwell International Science Center and associate geophysicist at the Humble Research Center.

Thompson received his M.S. in physics in 1965 and his Ph.D. in applied physics in 1971 from Stanford University. He also holds a B.S. in physics from Rice University in Houston, Texas.

The seminars will be held in the Applied Sciences Complex II Auditorium, 1900 Scholl Road.