The election of Susan Hockfield, president of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, to the board of Carnegie Corporation of New York, effective December 7, 2006, was announced today by Corporation president, Vartan Gregorian. Hockfield is the twentieth member of the board of trustees and joins two other university presidents, three former governors, as well as current and former leaders from the World Bank, the United Nations and ministries throughout the world who serve as trustees to the Corporation.
“Susan Hockfield is a trailblazer and role model for women in science and technology,” said Gregorian. “We believe her knowledge and scientific perspective will bring even greater strength to our influential board. Carnegie Corporation’s mission is consistent with MIT’s tradition of innovation, research and meritocracy, and I am greatly honored that she has accepted our invitation to join the Corporation as a trustee this early in her administration.”
“The Carnegie Corporation of New York has been a force for innovation in higher education for more than a century,” said President Hockfield. “I look forward to helping the Corporation's distinguished trustees and outstanding staff develop programs that will shape teaching and research in the years to come.”
A distinguished neuroscientist whose research has focused on the development of the brain, Dr. Hockfield holds a faculty appointment as professor of neuroscience in MIT’s Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences. Before assuming the presidency of MIT, she was the William Edward Gilbert Professor of Neurobiology and provost at Yale University. Dr. Hockfield directed the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Summer Neurobiology Program from 1985 to 1997, concurrent with her teaching post at Yale. More recently, she has served as a trustee of the Laboratory.
Dr. Hockfield’s research has focused on glioma, a deadly kind of brain cancer. She pioneered the use of monoclonal antibody technology in brain research, leading to her discovery of a protein that regulates changes in neuronal structure as a result of an animal's early life experiences. More recently she discovered a gene that plays a critical role in the spread of cancer in the brain and may represent new therapeutic targets for glioma.
A member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, Dr. Hockfield holds honorary degrees from Brown University, Tsinghua University (Beijing), and the Watson School of Biological Sciences at the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory. Her other honors include the Wilbur Lucius Cross Medal from the Yale University Graduate School, the Meliora Citation for Career Achievement from the University of Rochester, and the Charles Judson Herrick Award from the American Association of Anatomists for outstanding contributions by a young scientist. Dr. Hockfield earned her undergraduate degree from the University of Rochester and a Ph.D. from the Georgetown University School of Medicine, while carrying out her dissertation research in neuroscience at the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
Carnegie Corporation of New York was created by Andrew Carnegie in 1911 to promote “the advancement and diffusion of knowledge and understanding.” As a grantmaking foundation, the Corporation seeks to carry out Carnegie’s vision of philanthropy, which he said should aim “to do real and permanent good in this world.” The Corporation’s capital fund, originally donated at a value of about $135 million, had a market value of $2.2 billion on September 30, 2005. The Corporation awards grants totaling approximately $80 million a year in the areas of education, international peace and security, international development and strengthening U.S. democracy.