Bruce Alberts, a respected biochemist with a strong commitment to the improvement of science and mathematics education, has returned to the Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics at the University of California, San Francisco, after serving two six-year terms as the president of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS). Beginning in March of 2008, Alberts will begin service as the editor-in-chief of the journal Science.

During his tenure at the NAS, Alberts was instrumental in developing the landmark National Science Education standards that have been implemented in school systems nationwide. The type of “science as inquiry” teaching we need, says Alberts, emphasizes “logical, hands-on problem solving, and it insists on having evidence for claims that can be confirmed by others. It requires work in cooperative groups, where those with different types of talents can discover them – developing self confidence and an ability to communicate effectively with others.”

Alberts is also noted as one of the original authors of The Molecular Biology of the Cell, a preeminent textbook in the field now in its fourth edition. For the period 2000 to 2009, he serves as the co-chair of the InterAcademy Council, a new organization in Amsterdam governed by the presidents of 15 national academies of sciences and established to provide scientific advice to the world.

Committed in his international work to the promotion of the “creativity, openness and tolerance that are inherent to science,” Alberts believes that “scientists all around the world must now band together to help create more rational, scientifically-based societies that find dogmatism intolerable.”

Widely recognized for his work in the fields of biochemistry and molecular biology, Alberts has earned many honors and awards, including 16 honorary degrees. He currently serves on the advisory boards of more than 30 non-profit institutions. He is a Trustee of the Carnegie Corporation of New York, a Trustee of the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, a member of the Advisory Board of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and the immediate past-president of the American Society of Cell Biology.

(Excerpts from May 2, 2005 NAS Annual Meeting Speech.)