Caltech Professor Named Presidential Advisor

Nobel laureate Ahmed Zewail, the Linus Pauling Professor of Chemistry and Professor of Physics at Caltech, has been named by President Barack Obama to the United States President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST).

The announcement was made by President Obama in a speech at the National Academy of Sciences in Washington, D.C.

The council consists of a group of 20 leading experts from both the private sector and the academic community chosen to “advance the President’s bold agenda to reinvigorate the economy while building a new and innovative foundation for a 21st Century America.”

According to a statement from the Office of the President, President Obama will rely heavily on the council for advice in the fields of energy, education, health, climate change, environment, security, and the economy.

The Council of Advisors includes three Nobel laureates, two university presidents, four MacArthur Fellows, and 14 individuals who are elected members of the National Academy of Sciences, National Academy of Engineering, Institute of Medicine, or American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

“I am pleased to be an Advisor to assist President Obama in his vision for the America of the 21st century, and to address issues of global significance,” says Zewail.

“Ahmed is a fantastic choice for PCAST. Not only is he a remarkable scientist, but he is also an intellectual leader with great insight in the issues faced by society,” says Caltech president Jean-Lou Chameau.

In 1999, Zewail was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his pioneering developments in femtoscience, which make it possible to observe atoms in motion, creating the new field of femtochemistry, the study of matter on the femtosecond timescale. Zewail’s research group currently is developing four-dimensional microscopy, a new technology that allows 4D visualization in space and time, with the primary goal of understanding the complexity of chemical and biological transformations.

Zewail is the director of the Physical Biology Center for Ultrafast Science and Technology at Caltech, and served as the director of Caltech’s Laboratory for Molecular Sciences, which operated from 1996 to 2006 with support from the National Science Foundation.

Among other honors, Zewail has received the Albert Einstein World Award of Science, the Benjamin Franklin Medal, the Robert A. Welch Award, the Leonardo da Vinci Award, the Wolf Prize, and the King Faisal Prize. He was awarded the Order of the Grand Collar of the Nile, Egypt’s highest state honor, and has been featured on postage stamps issued to honor his contributions to science and humanity. Zewail holds honorary degrees in the sciences, arts, philosophy, law, medicine, and humane letters from 35 universities around the world, and is an elected member of many Academies and Societies. He serves on national and international boards, and is involved in promoting science and education in the developing world.