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Dr. Frank Press
Dr. Frank Press
Science advisor to President Jimmy Carter
1977 - 1980

Dr. Frank Press gave a public talk on April 11, 2006 on the CU-Boulder Campus.

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Dr. Frank Press was President of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences and Chairman of the National Research Council from 1981 to 1993 and Science Advisor to the President of the United States and Director, Office of Science and Technology Policy under Jimmy Carter from 1977 to 1980. Prior to that, he was Professor of Geophysics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Chairman of the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences. Dr. Press was also Professor of Geophysics at the California Institute of Technology and Director, Seismological Laboratory. He is a Life Member of the Corporation of MIT and Board Member of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, the Marine Biological Laboratory, and the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute. He is a Director of a medical diagnostic device company. He was the Cecil and Ida Green Senior Fellow at the Carnegie Institution of Washington from 1993-1997. Since 1993, he has been a visiting Professor at Cornell, Caltech, Stanford, and Indiana universities. Currently he advises on R&D strategic planning; management and research scenarios for new undertakings in industry and academia; and international research opportunities for The Washington Advisory Group.

Dr. Press has been elected to fellowship in the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the Royal Astronomical Society, the Royal Society (London), the Russian Academy of Sciences, and the Academie des Sciences (France). He is the recipient of 30 honorary degrees. Among his awards are the U.S. National Medal of Sciences, the Vannevar Bush Award, and the Pupin Medal from Columbia University. Dr. Press received the Japan Prize from the Emperor in 1993. He was awarded the “great gold” Lomonosov medal, the highest award of the Russian Academy of Sciences.

Dr. Press earned a B.S. from the City College of New York, and an M.A. and Ph.D. from Columbia University.