UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Alton D. Romig Jr., executive officer of the National Academy of Engineering, will deliver the address for the College of Earth and Mineral Sciences (EMS) baccalaureate degree commencement ceremony, to be held at 8 p.m. on Friday, May 5, in Pegula Ice Arena on Penn State’s University Park campus.

As executive officer, Romig is the chief operating officer responsible for the program, financial and membership operations of the academy, reporting to the president.

Before joining the academy, Romig was vice president and general manager of Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Company’s Advanced Development Programs, better known as the Skunk Works, where he led research and advanced development activities and set the strategic direction for current and future programs for the company’s Aeronautics Business Area.

Prior to joining Advanced Development Programs, Romig spent more than 30 years with Sandia National Laboratories, operated by Sandia Corporation, a Lockheed Martin Company. He led the development and engineering activities, providing science, technology and systems support for U.S. programs in military technology, nuclear deterrence and proliferation prevention, technology assessments, intelligence and counterintelligence, homeland security, and energy programs.

Romig has been widely recognized for his pioneering work in materials science. Romig was elected to the National Academy of Engineering in 2003 and the Council on Foreign Relations in 2008. He is a Fellow of the Minerals, Metals, and Materials Society (TMS), Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA), and American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), and a Fellow and honorary member of ASM International, which awarded him the ASM Silver Medal for Materials Research in 1988.

Romig received his bachelor of science, master of science and doctorate in materials science and engineering from Lehigh University in 1975, 1977 and 1979, respectively.