Four New Members to Join the National Science Board

Emilio F. Moran

In addition to Moran, the new members expected to be appointed to six-year terms are engineer W. Kent Fuchs, president of the University of Florida and before that provost at Cornell University, where he led the creation of a new technology campus in New York City; chemist Victor R. McCrary, vice president for research and economic development at Morgan State University and formerly business area executive for science and technology at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory; and physicist Julia M. Phillips is director emeritus at Sandia National Laboratories, where as vice president and chief technology officer, she managed the Laboratory’s $160 million Laboratory Directed Research and Development Program.

Moran is the John A. Hannah Distinguished Professor at the Center for Global Change and Earth Observations at Michigan State University. He is also a research professor at the University of Maryland’s Population Research Center. He brings experience as a NSF grantee in cultural anthropology, geography, ecosystem science, and other disciplines. He provides an important interface with the physical and biological sciences through his research on human interactions with the environment under conditions of change.

“The breadth and variety of knowledge and expertise in this class is more than we could have asked for,” Maria Zuber, chair of the National Science Board, was quoted in a release. “I am confident that their collective expertise across the natural and social sciences, and their management experiences, will allow us to accomplish many great things.”

The White House also reappointed Arthur Bienenstock, >W. Carl Lineberger, and Anneila Sargent to each serve a second six-year term. Bienenstock, professor emeritus of photon science at Stanford University, has led the board’s initiatives on reducing administrative burdens on federally funded researchers. Lineberger, E. U. Condon Distinguished Professor of Chemistry at the University of Colorado, and Sargent, Ira S. Bowen Professor of Astronomy at the California Institute of Technology, have both played key roles in NSB’s oversight and guidance of major NSF facilities and programs.

The NSB began accepting nominations for the board last fall and made recommendations to Obama for his consideration. Every two years, eight members rotate off the board and a new class is appointed. Board membership will be complete when one more new member is appointed to the class of 2022.