Carnegie Institution

News Release

December 12, 2002

Contact Tina McDowell in Carnegie’s Publications Office at 202-939-1120 or e-mail tmcdowell@ciw.edu; or Susanne Garvey at 202-939-1128 or e-mail sgarvey@ciw.edu

Carnegie Institution President, Maxine F. Singer, Retires

December 12, 2002, Washington, D.C. Maxine Frank Singer, the eighth president of the 100-year-old Carnegie Institution retires December 31, 2002, after 15 years at the helm. She will be succeeded by Dr. Richard A. Meserve, chairman of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

“Singer has changed the face of this pioneering scientific organization,” remarked Tom Urban, chairman of the Carnegie board. “ During her tenure, she has appointed new directors to each of the six research departments, rebuilt labs, erected new buildings, financed and managed the construction of our new 6.5-meter telescopes in Chile, initiated science education and outreach programs in the Washington area, bolstered the institution’s endowment making it one of the healthiest in the nation, and in celebration of Carnegie’s centennial established the first new department in over 80 years--the Department of Global Ecology. Her unstoppable energy has provided Carnegie scientists with the state-of-art resources they need to build on our tradition of independent, groundbreaking research.”

A biochemist, Singer came to the institution in 1988 from the National Institutes of Health where she was chief of the Laboratory of Biochemistry at the National Cancer Institute. There she led fifteen research groups. She retained her association with the National Cancer Institute as Scientist Emeritus during her decade and a half at Carnegie.

"With both feet planted in the life sciences, Maxine Singer has nevertheless been a tireless student, enthusiast, and promoter of the physical sciences --surely Carnegie astronomy has not enjoyed such solid support since the founding of the Mount Wilson Observatories by George Ellery Hale," stated Alan Dressler, longtime astronomer at the Carnegie Observatories.

In addition to promoting scientific research, Singer has worked hard to combat the deficiencies in math and science education in the U.S. and the under representation of women and minorities in the sciences. In 1989, she introduced the First Light Saturday Science School for Washington, D.C., public elementary students at Carnegie’s administration building. She expanded the program in 1994 to include the Carnegie Academy for Science Education (CASE), which helps public elementary school teachers learn the art of teaching science, mathematics, and technology. Singer will continue her work with First Light and CASE after retiring from the presidency.

Singer has also been both a spokesperson and leader on matters that affect the nation’s science policy including, most recently, issues relating to stem cell research and human cloning. A report issued by the National Academies Committee on Science, Engineering, and Public Policy, which Singer chairs, has also had a profound effect on improving the treatment and status of postdoctoral scientists in the U.S.--another area of her concern.

“Maxine has been an energetic and effective advocate for the wise policymaking that is needed to maintain the effectiveness of the U.S. scientific enterprise,” stated Bruce Alberts, president of the National Academy of Sciences. “She is an incredibly articulate analyst who cares deeply about the next generation of scientists. We owe her an enormous debt of gratitude for her many contributions to both science and our nation.”

In 1992 Singer was awarded the nation’s highest scientific honor, the National Medal of Science. She received the 1996 AAAS William D. Carey Lectureship Award for Leadership in Science Policy, and the 1999 Vannevar Bush Award for her lifetime contributions to science and engineering, among her long list of honors.

Looking to the future, Arthur Grossman, senior scientist at the Department of Plant Biology remarked, “As president of the Carnegie Institution, Maxine has been an enormous scientific and social force...she is not a ‘retiring’ person, and one step down as president of the institution may lead to two steps up in arenas that shape scientific education and policy in our country.”

Singer received her A.B. from Swarthmore College in 1952 and her Ph.D. from Yale in 1957. She will continue to be active in numerous societies and organizations, chair the board of directors of the Whitehead Institute, and serve on the Carnegie board of trustees.

For more information go to the following link: http://www.carnegieinstitution.org/Singer

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The Carnegie Institution (www.CarnegieInstitution.org) has been a pioneering force in basic scientific research since 1902. It is a private, nonprofit organization with six research departments in the U.S.: Embryology, Geophysical Laboratory, Terrestrial Magnetism, The Observatories, Plant Biology, and Global Ecology.