School of Health Sciences - Bill D. Shipp
2002 Distinguished Alumnus

Since Bill Shipp received his Ph.D. in bionucleonics from Purdue in 1972, he has contributed in all areas of research, development, technology deployment, and commercialization of a wide range of technologies for government and industrial clients.

Dr. Shipp served as Assistant Director of the Operational and Environmental Safety Division of DOE in Chicago, Illinois during 1976-1979, and was promoted to Director of the Technology Management Division in 1981. He was also responsible for the institutional management of the Argonne National Laboratory and the Ames Laboratory.

For six years, Dr. Shipp served in management at the Reactor Technology Center of the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), overseeing the design and qualification of the Light Water Tritium Production Reactor. From 1993 to 1995, Dr. Shipp served as Manager of the Engineering Technology Center (ETC), the largest of the technical centers within PNNL, with an annual budget in excess of $140 million and a staff of over 500. From 1995 to 1999, he became the Associate Laboratory Director of the Environmental Technology Division of PNNL, which represents over half of the total laboratory annual business volume of $540 million and over 3,600 staff. Under his leadership, the division developed the U.S. Department of Energy's privatization strategy for the cleanup of Hanford tank waste and helped foster a safety culture in nuclear reactor operations in the former Soviet Union and Eastern Europe through the International Nuclear Safety Program.

Dr. Shipp was responsible for all Battelle Memorial Institute research programs for DOE'S Environmental Management, Nuclear Energy, Defense Programs, Material Disposition, and Environmental Safety and Health programs. He also led a staff that was granted 40 U.S. and 24 foreign patents and deployed 32 technologies.

Dr. Shipp's contributions to safety in nuclear operations and R&D helped PNNL develop and receive validation for the first Integrated Safety Management System at a DOE Laboratory, and as Vice President of Program Development and Operations for the PNNL Division of Battelle Memorial Institute, Dr. Shipp managed the stabilization and new construction of the damaged reactor Unit 4 at the Chernobyl site in the Ukraine and many other smaller commercial programs and projects.

In 1999, Dr. Shipp became the Laboratory Director and Deputy General Manager of the Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory (INEEL), responsible for managing $640 million in annual expenditures in environmental management of the 980-squaremile site. Currently, Dr. Shipp serves as President, Laboratory Director, and General Manager at INEEL.

Adding to his prestigious list of accomplishments, Idaho Governor Dirk Kempthorne named Dr. Shipp as his Idaho Science and Technology Advisor in 1999, becoming the governor's top advisor on science and technology issues and the first person in Idaho history to assume this role.

Dr. Shipp is affiliated with Sigma XI, the American Nuclear Society, Health Physics Society, American Chemical Society, and American Physics Society. He serves as Chairman of the State of Idaho Science and Technology Executive Advisory Committee, and is a member of the Environmental Export Council, and Boards of' the Environmental Science and Technology Foundation, the University of Idaho Special Advisory Committee, the Eastern Idaho Economic Development Council, the Earth Search Sciences Incorporated Board of Advisors, the Oregon State University School of Nuclear Engineering, and the Washington State University Engineering and Architecture Advisory Board.