Position/Organization: president, National Academy of Sciences; chair, National Research Council

Ralph J. Cicerone, Ph.D., is president of the National Academy of Sciences and chair of the National Research Council. His studies of atmospheric energy dynamics, climate change, and ozone depletion have long put him at the intersection of science and government policy. He has directed atmospheric chemistry studies at the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colorado, is a former president of the American Geophysical Union, and was chancellor of the University of California, Irvine, from 1998 to 2005.