Chemistry and biochemistry professor Mario J. Molina was appointed to the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology last week.
Alongside’ 22 of the nation’s leading scientists, Molina will advise the president and vice president on issues involving science and technology that affect national policy and economic growth.
Prior to his appointment, Molina served as a scientific policy advisor on President Barack Obama’s transition team. He also served on the PCAST from 1993 to 2001 during both of former President Bill Clinton’s terms.
Among Obama’s other PCAST appointees are Google Chairman and CEO Eric Schmidt, President and CEO of the American Board of Internal Medicine Christine Cassel and Microsoft Chief Research and Strategy Officer Craig Mundie. The team includes a total of three Nobel laureates, two university presidents, four MacArthur recipients and 14 other notable scholars.
Molina said he expects this panel to be ‘more proactive’ than former President George W. Bush’s panel in allocating resources to scientific research. The panel will formulate policies to sustain scientific research and development.
Molina teaches at both UCSD and the Center for Atmospheric Sciences at Scripps Institution of Oceanography.
Charles Kennel, former director of SIO and senior strategist for UCSD’s Sustainability Solutions Institute, said Molina is a spectacular role model for young scientists at UCSD.
‘Mario has walked the talk in the area of atmospheric pollution,’ Kennel said. ‘His leadership of Mexico City’s efforts to understand and curb its air pollution ‘hellip; has set an example for the rest of us. It was not just his abilities in science; by example, he inspired atmospheric scientists, public-health specialists, policymakers and government officials.’
Molina received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1995 for identifying the impact of chlorofluorocarbon gas on the atmosphere. He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and the Institute of Medicine.
Molina will split his time between PCAST, the Molina Center for Energy and the Environment in Mexico City and a research group in San Diego investigating the chemical properties of atmospheric particles. The majority of Molina’s research focuses on the Earth’s atmosphere and human impacts on the environment.
Obama spoke to the NAS and newly elected members of the PCAST on April 27.
‘This council represents leaders from many scientific disciplines who will bring a diversity of experience and views,’ he said. ‘I will charge PCAST with advising me about national strategies to nurture and sustain a culture of scientific innovation.’
At the request of the council, the stimulus act signed by Obama on Feb. 17 funds an initiative called the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Energy, which will give money to high-risk, high-reward research in areas such as advanced biofuels, solar panels and batteries for hybrid vehicles.
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