I am the Director of the Institute for Physical Research and Technology, also known as IPRT. IPRT is a network of ten Iowa State centers that excel in the translation of basic research and engineering into useful applications and economic development. I am pleased to be here today to offer some thoughts in honor of Bruce, a dear friend for over 20 years. I first interacted with him when he was the Associate Director of Ames Laboratory. It was a good experience. He often had some good insights. When I was the Chair of the Department of Chemistry, Bruce and I collaborated on joint appointments.

Bruce had many qualities that made him unique. He was, of course, a brilliant researcher. You will hear many talks this morning from his colleagues about his wonderful accomplishments. But he was also a thoughtful and innovative administrator. Believe me, those qualities don't occur in the same person very often. Bruce was also an individual who was caring and kind to his colleagues. He was very inclusive. One of the qualities I liked most about Bruce was the fact that whether you were the lead researcher in a project or a summer undergraduate, or perhaps an administrative assistant, he always tried to make sure that you had a voice. He always tried to make sure that you were involved in the operation of the project, and that's a very important quality. Taken together, all these three qualities: brilliant researcher, excellent administrator, and caring person made him clearly unique among people that I knew.