The Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation today announced the appointment of Dr. Vicki L. Chandler as Chief Program Officer for the Foundation's Science Program, effective February 17, 2008.
Chandler will develop and manage the Foundation's grantmaking strategies and initiatives in scientific research. She will report directly to Steve McCormick, the Foundation's President.
"Vicki will guide our grantmaking activities with a creative, entrepreneurial approach," said McCormick. "Not only is Vicki a first-class scientist, she also has a strong background in interdisciplinary and collaborative research. I know she'll be a great addition to the Foundation, in every respect."
In accepting the position, Chandler said, "Through the support of innovative research in emerging fields, and the cross-disciplinary synthesis of pure and applied sciences, the Foundation helps deliver transformative, practical, and measurable results in scientific research. I'm thrilled to be joining the Foundation's Science Program and contributing to its work towards creating positive outcomes for future generations."
Chandler's background has given her vast experience in pure and applied research and in academia. Most recently, she served as Director of the BIO5 Institute at the University of Arizona, a prominent interdisciplinary research center that merges academics from multiple backgrounds to address biotech industry problems.
At UA, she was a Regents' Professor in the Departments of Plant Sciences and Molecular and Cellular Biology and held the Carl E. and Patricia Weiler Endowed Chair for Excellence in Agriculture and Life Sciences. Her pioneering research has investigated the regulation of gene expression in plants and animals.
Chandler received a Ph.D. in Biochemistry from the University of California, San Francisco and a Bachelor's degree in Biochemistry from the University of California, Berkeley. She has been awarded numerous honors including a Presidential Young Investigator Award, Searle Scholar, the NSF Faculty Award for Women Scientists and Engineers and the NIH Director's Pioneer Award. Chandler is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and has served on national advisory boards and panels for NSF, DOE, NIH and HHMI. She served on the NSF Biological Directorate Advisory Committee from 2001-2004, the NRC Committee on Defining and Advancing the Conceptual Basis of Biological Science and was elected to the governing council of NAS in 2007. Chandler has chaired or co-chaired several national conferences, and has extensive editorial service to the scientific community, including the journals Plant Physiology, Genetics, Science, and the Annual Review of Plant Biology. She is a member of the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology; American Society of Plant Biologists; Genetics Society of America; International Society of Plant Molecular Biology and the Rosalind Franklin Society. She has served on the Board of Directors of the Genetics Society, the International Society Plant Molecular Biology and as President of the American Society of Plant Biologists.
About the Foundation
The Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, established in 2000, seeks to advance environmental conservation and scientific research around the world and improve the quality of life in the San Francisco Bay Area. The Foundation's Science Program seeks to make a significant impact on the development of provocative, transformative scientific research, and increase knowledge in emerging fields. For more information, visit www.moore.org.