Schrieffer and Garmire Named to Committee on National Medal of Science

In September, President Clinton announced his intent to appoint Dr. Robert Schrieffer, APS president, and Dr. Elsa Garmire, APS Council and Executive Board member, to the President's Committee on the National Medal of Science. A highly prestigious award, the National Medal of Science was created to recognize individuals who have made outstanding contributions to science and engineering. The President's Committee on the National Medal of Science reviews nominations and assists in deciding recipients of the National Medal of Science.

Schrieffer holds the Eminent Scholar chair with the State of Florida University System. He is a professor of physics at Florida State University and the University of Florida, and also serves as the chief scientist for the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory. Schrieffer won the Nobel Prize in physics in 1972 with two other scientists for their study for the microscopic theory of superconductivity. He was awarded the National Medal of Science in 1984. He holds a B.S. from Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a Ph.D. from the University of Illinois.

Garmire received her Ph.D. in physics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and was recently named dean of the Thayer School of Engineering at Dartmouth College. She is also a past president of the Optical Society of America. Other nominees to the President's Committee are Joan Argetsinger Steitz, a professor of biophysics and biochemistry at Yale University who received the National Medal of Science in 1986; and Kenneth Arrow, a professor emeritus of economics at Stanford University who received the Nobel Memorial Prize in economic science in 1972.