Former NSF Director
to deliver
Sokol Lecture at MSU March 31
Faculty/Professional Staff Experts List
Contacts:Marketing & Communications -- 973-655-4333; editor@mail.montclair.edu
UPPER MONTCLAIR, N. J. – Microbiologist Dr. Rita R. Colwell, director
of the National Science Foundation from 1998 until last month, will
deliver the Margaret and Herman Sokol Science Lecture at Montclair State
University’s Memorial Auditorium Wednesday, March 31, at 8 p.m.
Her lecture, "Global Infectious Diseases in the Era of Bioterrorism"
is free for Montclair State students, faculty, staff and alumni. The
public is invited and general admission tickets are $10. For additional
information, or to order tickets, call MSU’s Box Office at (973)
655-5112
Today, Colwell is the first chairman of newly created Canon U.S. Life
Sciences, Inc., a Washington-based think tank whose goal is to identify
and develop life-science solutions with potential applications in diagnostics
and medical instrumentation.
An internationally recognized expert on cholera and other infectious
diseases, Colwell will also serve as Distinguished University Professor
at the University of Maryland and on the faculty of The Johns Hopkins
Bloomberg School of Public Health, where she will help develop a new
international center for the study of infectious diseases, water and
health in conjunction with scientific colleagues from Sweden, Norway,
Japan and Bangladesh.
Among the highlights of her NSF tenure, Colwell championed increases
in grant size, which rose from an annual average of $90,000 in 1998
to $142,000, and promoted
innovative collaborations across traditional disciplines such as biocomplexity
in the environment, nanoscale science and engineering, bioinformatics
and information technology.
In addition, she initiated programs to increase NSF’s investment
in mathematics and to integrate mathematics with the life and social
sciences, urged and obtained substantial
increases in graduate-student stipends, and called for expanded opportunities
for minorities and women in the nation’s science and engineering
communities.
Colwell, the third-longest-serving Director in NSF’s 54-year history,
also created a program to place promising science and engineering graduate
students directly in K-12
classrooms. In the successful "GK-12" program, school children
benefit from the energy and
enthusiasm of the graduate students, and the graduate students learn
first-hand the challenges involved in science and math education.
The National Science Foundation is an independent federal agency that
supports fundamental research and education across all fields of science
and engineering, with
an annual budget of nearly $5.58 billion. NSF funds reach all 50 states
through grants to nearly 2,000 universities and institutions.
Prior to her NSF service, Colwell held many advisory positions with
the government, non-profit science policy organizations, and private
foundations, as well as in the international scientific research community.
She has written or co-authored 16 books and more than 600 scientific
publications. She produced the award-winning film "Invisible Seas"
and has served on the editorial boards of numerous scientific journals.
She has 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 Washington Academy of Sciences,
the American Society for Microbiology, the Sigma Xi National Science
Honorary Society, and the International Union of Microbiological Societies.
Colwell is a member of the National Academy of Sciences, American Academy
of Arts and Sciences and The American Philosophical Society.
She is the recipient of numerous awards and honorary degrees, 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.
A Massachusetts native, she holds a B.S. in bacteriology and a M.S.
in genetics, both from Purdue University, and a Ph.D. in oceanography
from the University of Washington.
Through a generous gift from Margaret and Herman Sokol, the Margaret
and Herman Sokol Science Lectures have been established to allow members
of the University and surrounding communities to gain a greater appreciation
and expanded knowledge of important issues in science.
Each semester, a speaker of national or international renown is invited
to MSU to meet with faculty and students and conduct an evening seminar.
Speakers are selected on the basis of interdisciplinary appeal in their
area of expertise and public recognition.
Montclair State University is New Jersey's second largest and fastest
growing university. It offers the advantages of a large university --
a comprehensive undergraduate curriculum with a global focus, a broad
variety of superior graduate programs, and a diverse faculty and student
body -- combined with a small college's attention to students.
More information on the University is available at: www.montclair.edu.
MSU is located at the intersection of Valley Road and Normal Avenue
in Upper Montclair, one mile south of the junction of routes 3 and 46,
14 miles west of New York City.
March 18, 2004
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