President Obama to Nominate Cordova for National Science Foundation

President Barack Obama announced his intent to nominate France Anne Cordova to be the director of the National Science Foundation.

Dr. France Anne Cordova is President Emerita of Purdue University, where she served as President from 2007 to 2012. From 2002 to 2007, Dr. Cordova served as Chancellor of the University of California at Riverside, where she was a Distinguished Professor of Physics and Astronomy. Previously, Dr. Cordova was the Vice Chancellor for Research and Professor of Physics at the University of California at Santa Barbara from 1996 to 2002. She served as NASA’s Chief Scientist from 1993 to 1996. She was on the faculty of the Pennsylvania State University, where she served as Head of the Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics from 1989 to 1993. Dr. Cordova served as Deputy Group Leader in the Earth and Space Sciences Division at Los Alamos National Laboratory from 1988 to 1989 and Staff Scientist from 1979 to 1989. She is Chair of the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian Institution and a member of the National Science Board. Dr. Cordova received a B.A. from Stanford University and a Ph.D. from the California Institute of Technology.