The Ames Laboratory had its beginnings in the Ames Project, a top secret chemical research and development program at Iowa State College (University) supporting the World War II Manhattan Project. The Ames Project was started by Frank H. Spedding, Professor of Chemistry, who had been appointed by Arthur Compton as head of the Chemistry Division of the Manhattan Project's Metallurgical Laboratory at the University of Chicago. Instead of waiting for a laboratory to be built in Chicago, Spedding got a staff in place from among his graduate students in Ames, appointed professor of chemistry Harley Wilhelm as Associate Director, and got started doing research right away. The work of the Ames Project was thus performed under the auspices of the University of Chicago Metallurgical Laboratory. In 1947, the United States Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) officially established the Ames Laboratory as a national laboratory. The contract for the operation of the laboratory was awarded to Iowa State University under its Institute for Atomic Research (IAR), the administrative body for Ames Laboratory, and Spedding was appointed as its first director. In 1968, Spedding stepped down as director and was succeeded by Robert Hansen until 1988. In 1974, the IAR became the Energy and Mineral Resources Research Institute (EMRRI), responsible for administering the laboratory until 1987. In 1974, the U.S. AEC was split into two new agencies, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and the Energy Research and Development Administration (ERDA). The ERDA oversaw the work of Ames Laboratory and other national laboratories until 1977, when it was combined with the Federal Energy Administration to become the Department of Energy (DOE). Ames Laboratory is currently a DOE research facility operated by Iowa State University.