The top US science body, that leads scientific research in the United States of America, will now be headed by a Chennai man Subra Suresh. He is an Indian-American academician and alumnus of IIT Madras who was sworn in as the director of the National Science Foundation (NSF).

He was nominated by US President Barack Obama as Director. Suresh will lead the $7.4 billion independent federal agency that supports all fields of science and engineering research, as well as a wide span of educational programmes that reach more than 2,000 institutions across the US.

Right after Suresh was sworn in at the White House Science Fair yesterday as the 13th NSF director by John Holdren, Obama's science advisorm the US President Barack Obama said, "We are very grateful to have Subra taking this new task".

Suresh holds a bachelor's degree from the Indian Institute of Technology in Madras, a master's degree from Iowa State University, and earned his ScD from MIT in 1981.

"He has been at MIT and has been leading one of the top engineering programmes in the country and for him now to be able to apply that to the National Science Foundation is just going to be outstanding, So we're very grateful for your service," Obama said acknowledging the contribution of Suresh in the field of science and technology.