Army's chief scientist to exit

Andrews' biography

A. Michael Andrews II, the Army's chief scientist and deputy assistant secretary for research and technology, announced he will be leaving the Defense Department to become chief technology officer of L-3 Communications Corp., a government contractor.

Andrews has been the Army's chief scientist since 1998. Under his leadership, the Army has undertaken projects such as the Future Combat Systems initiative and its transformation efforts.

"Under his superb leadership and dedicated service, the Army has focused the efforts of the technology base and greatly accelerated the insertion of new technologies into the production of all Army systems, with particular success associated with the Future Combat System," said Claude M. Bolton Jr., assistant secretary of the Army for acquisition, logistics and technology, in a statement.

"His contributions will long outlast his tenure with the Army and will be felt well into this century."

Andrews was honored with the Presidential Rank Award in 2001, elected Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineering in 2001, presented the National Defense Industrial Association Firepower Award in 2000, has five patents and over 50 publication credits, and was recognized as Rockwell's Engineer of the Year in 1979.

Andrews will begin his tenure at L-3 starting June 23.

Andrews was born in Arkansas City, Kan., and received his bachelor's and master's of science degrees, both in electrical engineering, from the University of Oklahoma. He went on to get his doctorate, also in electrical engineering, from the University of Illinois.

He joined Rockwell International Corp. in Thousand Oaks, Calif., in 1971 and went on to set up that company's Electro-Optical Center in Anaheim, Calif.

In 1996, he was offered the position of director of technology for the Army's assistant secretary for research, development and acquisitions.