NMSI Chief Executive Officer, former Assistant Secretary, U.S. Department of Education

An attorney, Tom Luce received his undergraduate and graduate degrees from Southern Methodist University and has been honored with the SMU Law School and University Distinguished Alumni Awards. He was a founding partner and managing partner of the law firm of Hughes & Luce, LLP until his retirement from the firm in 1997.

Former President of the National Academy of Sciences

Bruce Alberts, a respected biochemist with a strong commitment to the improvement of science and math 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).

Former Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Lockheed Martin Corporation

Norman R. Augustine was raised in Colorado and attended Princeton University where he graduated with a BSE in Aeronautical Engineering, magna cum laude, and an MSE. He was elected to Phi Beta Kappa, Tau Beta Pi and Sigma Xi.

Gaston Caperton, a former two-term governor of West Virginia, is the eighth president of the College Board, a not-for-profit membership association founded in 1900 that consists of 5,000 of the nation's leading schools, colleges, and universities. Among its best-known programs are the Advanced Placement Program (AP) and the SAT*.

Chairman of Dreamworks Animation SKG and former Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, PepsiCo

Roger Enrico is the chairman of the board of DreamWorks Animation SKG, a developer and producer of computer-generated animated feature films. He is the former chairman and chief executive officer of PepsiCo, Inc., having served as chief executive officer from April 1996 until May 2001, chairman of the board from November 1996 to May 2001, and vice chairman from May 2001 until April 2002. Roger joined PepsiCo in 1971 and held numerous other senior positions. Roger is a member of the boards of directors of Electronic Data Systems Corporation, Belo Corporation, The National Geographic Society, The Dallas Center for the Performing Arts, and The Eisenhower Fellowships.

Superintendent, Maryland State Department of Education

Dr. Nancy S. Grasmick is Maryland's first female state superintendent and the U.S.'s longest serving appointed schools chief. Dr. Grasmick is known for her strong focus on student achievement, teacher quality, parent involvement, public school funding, and early care and education. In fact, it is this commitment to high-quality early learning that has made Maryland the only state in the nation to have consolidated all its early childhood programs at the state department of education.

Under Dr. Grasmick's leadership, Maryland has been nationally recognized for its many achievements. Maryland's SAT scores continue to rank first in the College Board's Middle States region, and Maryland leads the nation in improving high school students' performance in the rigorous Advanced Placement (AP) Program.*

President and Founder, The Harris Foundation, Inc.

Dr. Harris is currently President and Chief Executive Officer of Vesalius Ventures, Inc., a venture capital accelerator, that invest in early-stage companies in Medical Informatics and Technology (Telemedicine).

Prior to Vesalius Ventures, Dr. Harris was at NASA for 10 years, where he conducted research in musculoskeletal physiology and disuse osteoporosis. Later, as Head of the Exercise Countermeasure Project, he conducted clinical investigations of space adaptation and developed in-flight medical devices to extend astronaut stays in space, which involved the use of telemetry. A veteran astronaut for over 15 years, he has logged more than 438 hours and traveled over 7.2 million miles in space.

Head of Education and Human Resources, American Association for the Advancement of Science

A longtime leader in education and science literacy, Shirley Malcom is Head of the Directorate for Education and Human Resources Programs of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). The directorate includes AAA programs in education, activities for underrepresented groups, and public understanding of science and technology.

Dr. Malcom serves on several boards-including the Heinz Endowments and the H. John Heinz III Center for Science, Economics and the Environment-and is an honorary trustee of the American Museum of Natural History. 

In 2006 she was named as co-chair (with Leon Lederman) of the National Science Board commission on 21st Century Education in STEM. She serves as a Regent of Morgan Statue University and as a trustee of Caltech.

Chairman, CEO, and President, Prudential Financial, Inc.

Arthur F. Ryan is chairman and chief executive officer of Prudential Financial, Inc., one of the largest diversified financial institutions in the world.

Prior to joining Prudential in December 1994, Mr. Ryan had been president and chief operating officer of Chase Manhattan Bank since 1990. Mr. Ryan ran Chase's worldwide retail bank between 1984 and 1990.

President, Spelman College

Scholar, teacher, author, administrator and race relations expert Dr. Beverly Daniel Tatum is the ninth president of Spelman College. Prior to her appointment to the Spelman presidency in 2002, she spent 13 years at Mount Holyoke College, serving in various roles during her tenure there - as professor of psychology, department chair, dean of the College, and acting president.

Roy Vagelos, Former Chairman and CEO, Merck & Co., Inc.

Roy Vagelos is Retired Chairman and CEO of Merck & Co., Inc. He received an AB in 1950 from the University of Pennsylvania and an MD in 1954 from Columbia University. Following a residency at the Massachusetts General Hospital, he joined the National Institute of Health where from 1956-66 he served as Senior Surgeon and then Section Head of Comparative Biochemistry. In 1966 he became Chairman, Department of Biological Chemistry, Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and in 1973 founded the University's Division of Biology and Biomedical Sciences. He joined Merck Research Laboratories in 1975 where he was president until 1985 when he became CEO and later Chairman of the company. He retired in 1994.

President, National Academy of Engineering
President Emeritus, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Charles M. Vest hails from Morgantown, West Virginia. He earned a B.S.M.E degree in mechanical engineering from West Virginia University in 1963, and M.S.E. and Ph.D. degrees from the University of Michigan, in 1964 and 1967, respectively. Dr. Vest is president emeritus of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), having stepped down in December 2004 after 14 years in that post, and is a member of the MIT mechanical engineering faculty.

Dr. Vest became the fifteenth president of MIT on October 15, 1990. In recognition of the increasing interdependence of economic, technological, environmental, and political systems both in the United States and throughout the world, Dr. Vest's priorities during his tenure as president of MIT included building a stronger international dimension into education and research programs, developing stronger relations with industry, enhancing racial and cultural diversity within MIT, and rebuilding public understanding and support of higher education and research.

Director of Carl Wieman Science Education Initiative, University of British Columbia

Carl Wieman, who won the Nobel Prize in Physics with Eric Cornell in 2001, is highly involved with efforts to improve science education. He joined the University of British Columbia in 2007 and is heading an endowed science education initiative at the university. He also retains a partial appointment at the University of Colorado at Boulder to head the science education project he founded there.