AAAS President Geraldine Richmond | The University of Oregon
President Barack Obama announced on 22 December that AAAS President Geraldine Richmond will be awarded a National Medal of Science, the highest scientific honor bestowed by the United States.
"Science and technology are fundamental to solving some of our Nation's biggest challenges," Obama said, in a statement. "The knowledge produced by these Americans today will carry our country's legacy of innovation forward and continue to help countless others around the world. Their work is a testament to American ingenuity."
Richmond, a physicist and chemist, is the Presidential Chair in Science and professor of chemistry at the University of Oregon, a U.S. science envoy to the Lower Mekong River Countries of Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Burma, and Thailand, and a member of the National Science Board, the National Academy of Sciences, and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. She is a fellow of AAAS as well as the American Chemical Society, American Physical Society, and the Association for Women in Science. She co-founded COACh, the Committee on the Advancement of Women Chemists, which works to increase the number of women scientists and support their success through programs and mentoring.
Richmond will become Chair of the Board of Directors for AAAS following the AAAS Annual Meeting in February, held this year in Washington, DC.
Two former AAAS members of the board were also named: Shirley Ann Jackson, former President and Chair, and Simon Levin. Richmond, Levin and Jackson will receive their medals in a White House Ceremony in early 2016.