June 10, 2016

The National Science Board (NSB) recently announced the election of Dr. Maria Zuber as chair and Dr. Diane Souvaine as vice chair. Zuber and Souvaine replace former chair Dan Arvizu, Precourt Energy Scholar at Stanford University, and former vice chair Kelvin Droegemeier, vice president for research at the University of Oklahoma.

The NSB, congressionally chartered by the National Science Foundation Act of 1950, is the 24-member governing body of the National Science Foundation (NSF). Board members are appointed based on their professional achievements in research, education, or public service and members serve a renewable six-year term.

Zuber, a planetary geophysicist by training and the vice president for research at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, has held leadership roles on nine NASA missions, published more than 200 papers on geophysics and the technology of space-based lasers and radio systems, and was named one of the 50 most important women in science by Discover magazine in 2002. She is currently in her fourth year on the board.

Souvaine, a theoretical computer scientist and the vice provost for research at Tufts University, is in her second term on the NSB,  having served as chair of both its Committee on Strategy and Budget and Committee on Programs and Plans, among other accomplishments.

These new appointments, along with Dr. France Córdova’s role as NSF’s Director, mark the first time in NSF’s history that all top leadership positions at the agency have been held by women.

Source: American Institute of Physics, Discover Magazine, National Science Foundation

Updated 7/11/16