Distinguished prof to lead Medal of Science committee

Margaret Murnane. University of Colorado photo

President Barack Obama will appoint Margaret Murnane as chair of the President’s Committee on the National Medal of Science, the White House announced last month.

Murnane is a fellow of the Joint Institute for Laboratory Astrophysics and a distinguished professor in the Department of Physics at the University of Colorado.

In announcing his choices for the five-member committee, Obama said: “These fine public servants bring both a depth of experience and tremendous dedication to their new roles.  Our nation will be well-served by these individuals, and I look forward to working with them in the months and years to come.”

Murnane is a fellow of the American Physical Society, the Optical Society of America and the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

She was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2006 and the National Academy of Sciences in 2004.

In recognition of her work, she has been awarded the 2011 Royal Dublin Society Irish Times Boyle Medal for Scientific Excellence, the 2010 R.W. Wood Prize of the Optical Society of America, the 2010 Schawlow Prize of the American Physical Society, the 2009 Ahmed Zewail Award of the American Chemical Society, and a John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Fellowship in 2000.

She was first appointed to the President’s Committee on the National Medal of Science in 2010.  Murnane received her B.S and M.S. from University College Cork, Ireland, and her Ph.D. from the University of California at Berkeley.

January 2012

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