Leon M. Lederman, Ph.D.

Recruiment and Screening Panel

.Leon M. Lederman, PhD Leon M. Lederman, internationally renowned high-energy physicist and one of the "founding fathers" of the Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy (IMSA), joined IMSA's staff in September 1998 to lead the newly-established Great Minds Program as its Inaugural Resident Scholar. Dr. Lederman also is Director Emeritus of Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory in Batavia, Illinois, and holds an appointment as Pritzker Professor of Science at the Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago. In addition, he served as chairman of the State of Illinois Governor's Science Advisory Committee and was President of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), the largest scientific organization in the United States, from 1991 to 1992. Dr. Lederman has received numerous awards including the National Medal of Science (1965), the Elliot Cresson Medal of the Franklin Institute (1976), the Wolf Prize in Physics (1982), the Nobel Prize in Physics (1988) and the Enrico Fermi Prize given by President Bill Clinton in 1993. Dr. Lederman is a member of the National Academy of Sciences, and serves on the Secretary of Energy's Advisory Board. He also serves on the Board of the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel and is a member of the Committee on Capacity Building in Science of the Paris-based International Council of Scientific Unions. Dr. Lederman is the author of numerous scientific publications and several books. His current emphasis is on the restructuring of science and mathematics education.