CCST Board Member, Senior Fellows to Receive National Honors

Three leading science and technology figures associated with CCST are to receive the nation’s top honors by the National Science Foundation.

CCST Board Member Bruce Alberts, a Professor of Biochemistry at UC San Francisco and Editor-in-Chief of Science, will receive the National Medal of Science. CCST Senior Fellow Burton Richter, Director Emeritus of the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory and a Nobel Laureate, will also be honored with a National Medal of Science. CCST Senior Fellow Cherry Murray, Dean of the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences at Harvard University, will receive the National Medal of Technology and Innovation.

“The National Medals of Science and of Technology and Innovation are the nation’s highest honors in these fields,” said CCST Board Chair Charlie Kennel. “Bruce, Burt, Cherry: We are honored by our association with you.”

Bruce Alberts, who served two six-year terms as the President of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS), is a prominent biochemist with a strong commitment to the improvement of science and mathematics education. During his tenure at the NAS, he facilitated development of the landmark National Science Education standards that have been implemented in school systems nationwide. He was also instrumental in the creation of the National Teacher Advisory Council and subsequently, in California, the CCST California Teacher Advisory Council.

Burton Richter, the Paul Pigott Professor in Physical Sciences Emeritus at Stanford University, was director of CCST Laboratory Affiliate SLAC from 1984 to 1999. A renowned physicist with over 300 publications in high energy physics, accelerators, and colliding beam systems, Burton’s numerous honors include the E.O. Lawrence Award in 1975, the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1976, and the Enrico Fermi Award for lifetime achievement in 2012.

Cherry Murray is a physicist who has been nationally recognized for her work in surface physics, light scattering, and complex fluids. Prior to moving to Harvard in 2009, Murray served as the principal associate director for science and technology at CCST Laboratory Affiliate Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, where her administrative responsibilities included overseeing the quality of science and technology in the laboratory’s scientific and technical programs and disciplines. Before joining LLNL, she served for over twenty years at Bell Laboratories.

Alberts, Richter, and Murray join a long list of honorees associated with CCST: ten members and Senior Fellows have received National Medals of Science, and three have received National Medals of Technology. In addition, this year’s honoree lists show strong representation from California overall – three of the eight National Medals of Technology and Innovation, and six of the ten National Medals of Science, are being awarded to scientists from California institutions.

“Many are proposed for these awards, but only a few are selected,” said Kennel. “You are truly extraordinary scientists and citizens.”