American Chemical Society honors Jeremy Berg and Norman Neureiter with Public Service Award

14-Apr-2011 - USA

Jeremy M. Berg, Ph.D., director of the National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS) at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and Norman P. Neureiter, Ph.D., senior advisor to the Center for Science Diplomacy at the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), will receive the American Chemical Society's (ACS) 2011 Public Service Award for their vision and leadership in science and engineering policy. The leaders will be recognized for their public service as follows:

Jeremy M. Berg, director of the National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS) at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), has been an advocate for scientific research, research training, and programs designed to increase the diversity of the biomedical and behavioral research workforce. He has served as director of NIGMS since November 2003, overseeing a diverse array of research in areas including chemistry, biological chemistry, and pharmacology. The institute supports more than 4,500 research grants, about 10 percent of the grants funded by NIH as a whole. Under Berg’s leadership, NIGMS has increased the visibility of the role chemistry plays in improving health and has recognized the importance of green chemistry. Berg has also overseen the NIH Director’s Pioneer Award and New Innovator Award programs, which encourage innovation by supporting exceptionally creative investigators. Prior to his appointment as NIGMS director, Berg directed the Institute for Basic Biomedical Sciences at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore, Md., where he also served as professor and director of the department of biophysics and biophysical chemistry. In addition, he directed the Markey Center for Macromolecular Structure and Function and co-directed the W.M. Keck Center for the Rational Design of Biologically Active Molecules at the university.

Norman P. Neureiter, became the first science and technology adviser to the U.S. Secretary of State in September of 2000, building on multiple careers as a research chemist in the oil industry, four years in Germany and Poland as U.S. Scientific Attaché, four years in the White House Office of Science and Technology building international scientific relations, and 23 years in international business with the semiconductor industry including five years in Japan. During his three-year term under Secretaries Madeleine Albright and Colin Powell, he dramatically increased both the number and profile of Ph.D. scientists serving in the Department of State through fellowship arrangements with scientific societies, especially the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). The 54 AAAS Fellows in State and USAID today are very much his legacy. His successor at State extended this partnership concept to universities with the Jefferson Science Fellows Program that brings tenured professors into State to provide additional high-level scientific advice to the foreign policy process. In 2004, Neureiter joined AAAS as the first director of the newly established Center for Science, Technology, and Security Policy, funded by the MacArthur Foundation. Presently, as Senior Advisor to the AAAS Center for Science Diplomacy, he focuses on science cooperation as a means of constructive engagement with countries where overall relations may be quite strained, such as Iran and North Korea.

https://www.chemeurope.com/en/news/131924/american-chemical-society-honors-jeremy-berg-and-norman-neureiter-with-public-service-award.html