“As the first Latina nominated to head the NSF, Dr. Cordova brings a distinguished record of accomplishment from her work at Los Alamos National Laboratory to her many positions in academia,” says New Mexico Democratic Congressman Ben Ray Luján, The Congressional Hispanic Caucus’ (CHC) First Vice Chair and Diversity and Inclusion Taskforce Chair.
The National Science Foundation’s main aim is to keep the United States at the leading edge of discovery in a wide range of scientific areas and fund scientific research throughout the country. Part of Dr. Cordova’s job would be to identify and encourage the growth of new fields in science.
Dr. Cordova served as President Emerita of Purdue University from 2007 through 2012. Before that, she served as a professor of physics at the University of California at Riverside and at the University of California at Santa Barbara. The Stanford University and California Institute of Technology alum even served as NASA’s chief scientist from 1993 through 1996, after heading the department of astronomy and astrophysics at Pennsylvania State University.
