The keynote speaker:
Dr.
Rita Colwell is Chairman of Canon US Life Sciences, Inc. and
Distinguished University Professor both at the University of
Maryland at College Park and at Johns Hopkins University
Bloomberg School of Public Health.
Dr. Rita R. Colwell became the 11th Director of the
National Science Foundation in August, 1998.
Dr. Colwell spearheaded the agency's emphases in K-12
science and mathematics education, graduate
science and engineering education/training and the increased
participation of women and minorities in science and
engineering.
Her policy approach enabled the agency to strengthen its
core activities, as well as establishing major initiatives,
including Nanotechnology, Biocomplexity, Information
Technology, Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences and the
21st Century Workforce. In her capacity as NSF Director, she
served as Cochair of the Committee on Science of the
National Science and Technology Council.
Under her leadership, the Foundation received significant
budget increases, and its funding recently reached a level
of more than $5.3 billion.
Before coming to NSF, Dr. Colwell was President of the
University of Maryland Biotechnology Institute, 1991-1998,
and she remains Professor of Microbiology and Biotechnology
(on leave) at the University Maryland. She was also a member
of the National Science Board from 1984 to 1990.
Dr. Colwell has held many advisory positions in the U.S.
Government, non-profit science policy organizations, and
private foundations, as well as in the international
scientific research community. She is a nationally respected
scientist and educator, and has authored or co-authored 16
books and more than 600 scientific publications. She
produced the award-winning film, Invisible Seas, and has
served on editorial boards of numerous scientific journals.
She is the recipient of numerous awards, including the
Medal of Distinction from Columbia University, the Gold
Medal of Charles University, Prague, the UCLA Medal from the
University of California, Los Angeles, and the Alumna Summa
Laude Dignata from the University of Washington, Seattle.
Dr. Colwell has also been awarded 35 honorary degrees
from institutions of higher education, including her Alma
Mater, Purdue University. Dr. Colwell is an honorary member
of the microbiological societies of the UK, France, Israel,
Bangladesh, and the U.S. and has held several honorary
professorships, including the University of Queensland,
Australia. Dr. Colwell has previously served as Chairman of
the Board of Governors of the American Academy of
Microbiology and also as President of the American
Association for the Advancement of Science, the American
Society for Microbiology, the Sigma Xi National Science
Honorary Society, and the International Union of
Microbiological Societies.
Dr.
William H. Schlesinger is Dean of the Nicholas
School of the Environment and Earth Sciences, Duke
University. Completing his A.B. at Dartmouth (1972),
and Ph.D. at Cornell (1976), Dr. Schlesinger joined
the faculty at Duke in 1980. He is the author or
co-author of over 160 scientific papers and the
widely-adopted textbook Biogeochemistry: An analysis
of global change (Academic Press, 2nd ed. 1997). He
was elected a member of the American Academy of Arts
and Sciences in 1995 and The National Academy of
Sciences in 2003. He was President of the Ecological
Society of America for 2003-2004.
