Tuesday, April 28, 2009

Obama Taps Two Southern Californians For Tech, Science Advice

President Barack Obama has appointed two Southern California academics--both Nobel prize winners in Chemistry--for his Science and Technology Advisory council, saying Monday that he has selected UC San Diego professor Mario Molina and Caltech professor Ahmed Zewail to the council. Mario Molina is a Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry at the University of California, San Diegomand the Center for Atmospheric Sciences at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography. Molina received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1995. Ahmed Zewail is a professor of Chemistry and Physics at Caltech, and was the Nobel Prize winner in Chemistry in 1999. Molina and Zewail joined a number of others--including Microsoft Chief Research officer Craig Mundie, and Eric Schmidt, the Chairman and CEO of Google, on the panel.