National Science Foundation Nomination of Richard C. Atkinson To Be Director.

The President today announced that he will nominate Richard C. Atkinson, of Stanford, Calif., to be Director of the National Science Foundation. Atkinson has been Deputy Director of the Foundation since 1975, and has served as Acting Director since 1976. He is also a professor at Stanford University.

Atkinson was born in Oak Park, Ell., on March 19, 1929. He received a Ph. B. degree from the University of Chicago in 1948 and a Ph.D. from Indiana University in 1955.

Atkinson was a lecturer in applied mathematics and statistical laboratories at Stanford University in 1956-57. From 1957 to 1961, he was an assistant professor of psychology at the University of California at Los Angeles.

Atkinson has taught at Stanford since 1961, serving as an associate professor from 1961 to 1964 and a professor since that year. From 1969 to 1974, he was chairman of the department of psychology and dean of the School of Humanities and Sciences.

Atkinson was a fellow of the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences in 1963, and a Guggenheim fellow in 1967. He received the Distinguished Research Award of the Social Science Research Council in 1962.

He has been chairman of the psychology section of the American Association for the Advancement of Science since 1975, and president of the Western Psychological Association since 1975. He was president of the experimental division of the American Psychological Association in 1974-75.

Atkinson is the author of "Introduction to Psychology" (with Hilgard and Atkinson, 1971), "Computer Assisted Instruction" (1969), and "An Introduction to Mathematical Learning Theory" (with Bower and Crothers, 1965), and numerous articles.