2006 Education Award in Neuroscience

Donald Kennedy 

Donald Kennedy has served since 1 June 2000 as editor-in-chief of Science, capping a lifetime of achievement that includes the presidency of Stanford University and a term as commissioner of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). A biologist by training, Dr. Kennedy has focused in his research on how the natural and social sciences can contribute to improving environmental practices and institutions, in realms ranging from global climate change to the ecosystem impacts of alien marine species invasions. He is Bing Professor Emeritus of Environmental Science at Stanford, and co-chairs an interdisciplinary center devoted to the development of policies regarding such environmental problems as major land-use changes, economically driven alterations in agricultural practice, global climate change, and the development of regulatory practices.

From 1980 to 1992, Kennedy served as president of Stanford, where he helped spur renewed attention to undergraduate education and increased student interest in volunteer work and public service. During his presidency, Stanford concluded the largest capital campaign in the history of higher education, added substantially to the quality of its faculty, and cemented its ranking as one of the nation's top research universities. Dr. Kennedy received his A.B. and Ph.D. degrees in biology from Harvard University. A member of the National Academy of Sciences, Dr. Kennedy also maintains membership in the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the American Philosophical Society.

The ANDP Education Award honored Dr. Kennedy’s positive influence on students through his teaching undergraduate and graduate courses in neuroscience, his important and influential role as the mentor and trainer of a large cadre of successful neuroscientists, and his many contributions to public education and awareness of science through his work at the FDA and as Editor-in-Chief of Science.