Rita_R._Colwell

Rita R. Colwell

Rita R. Colwell (born 1934 in Beverly, Massachusetts) is an environmental microbiologist and scientific administrator. She became the 11th Director of the United States National Science Foundation on August 4, 1998.

Dr. Colwell has an undergraduate degree in bacteriology and an M.S. in genetics from Purdue University, and a Ph.D. in oceanography from the University of Washington. She did a post-doctoral fellowship at the National Research Council of Canada in Ottawa. In 2004, she received an honorary Sc.D. from Bates College, one of 48 honorary degrees she has been conferred with. She served as President of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the American Society for Microbiology. She is a member of the (US) National Academy of Sciences, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the American Philosophical Society, as well as the Royal Society of Canada and the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. As of 2008, she serves as President of the American Institute of Biological Sciences.

In 2004 Dr. Colwell left her position as Director of NSF to become the chief scientist at Canon U.S. Life Sciences, a division of Canon, the camera and printer company. As of 2008, she was the Chairman of Canon U.S. Life Sciences. She also returned to academic life as a Distinguished Professor at University of Maryland, College Park, as well as at the Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health. In July 2007, Dr. Colwell received the National Medal of Science from United States President George W. Bush. She was the 2008 Leonard Brockington Visitor to Queen's University.

She has authored or co-authored 17 books and more than 700 scientific publications. She produced the award-winning film Invisible Seas.

References

Mervis, Jeffrey (2004). "National Science Foundation. Colwell steps down, Bement named Acting Director". Science 303 (5661): 1116-7.
Brumfiel, Geoff (2004). "Colwell calls time on 'wonderful run' at NSF". Nature 427 (6976): 665.
Mervis, J (2001). "National Science Foundation. Transition rumor targets Colwell". Science 291 (5504): 572.