Mayo Appointed to National Science Board

President Barack Obama has appointed Stephen Mayo, Caltech's William K. Bowes Jr. Foundation Chair of the Division of Biology and Bren Professor of Biology and Chemistry, to the National Science Board, the governing body of the National Science Foundation.

"I'm truly delighted to serve the Obama administration in this capacity and look forward to engaging with the board and the foundation, which play such a critical role in our nation's support of research and education in science and engineering," says Mayo.

Mayo earned his PhD at Caltech in 1987 and has been a member of the faculty since 1991. He served as Caltech's vice provost for research from 2007 to 2010 and has served on the board of directors of the American Association for the Advancement of Science since 2010. Mayo's research focuses on the development of computational approaches to protein engineering—a field that has broad applications ranging from advanced biofuels to human medical therapeutics. His pioneering role in the development of computational protein-design methods was recognized with his election to the National Academy of Sciences in 2004.

The National Science Board is the 25-member policymaking body for the National Science Foundation and advisory body to the president and Congress on science and engineering issues. Anneila Sargent, vice president for student affairs and the Benjamin M. Rosen Professor of Astronomy at Caltech, currently serves as a member of the board, which she joined in 2011. Previous members from Caltech are Barry Barish, the Ronald and Maxine Linde Professor of Physics, Emeritus; the late Lee DuBridge, physicist, former Caltech president, and science advisor to Presidents Harry Truman and Richard Nixon; and the late William Fowler, astrophysicist and Nobel laureate.