Washington, D.C. -- Carnegie Institution for Science president Richard A. Meserve was elected a Foreign Member of the Russian Academy of Sciences. He was elected in the section covering the fields of radiation safety, energy development, and environmental protection. The Russian Academy has approximately 250 Foreign Members.
Meserve has engaged in extensive activities with the Russian Academy over the years on projects undertaken by the U.S. National Academies of Sciences and Engineering, usually with the sponsorship of the U.S. Government. These have included projects relating to the control of weapons-usable nuclear materials, nuclear safety and security, and most recently, the conversion of research reactors fueled with weapons-usable highly enriched uranium to low enriched uranium.
Meserve commented, "I am greatly honored to be elected a Foreign Member of the Russian Academy. The linkage between the U.S. Academies and the Russian Academy has been enormously valuable to both countries over the years and I am pleased to be recognized by my Russian colleagues in this way."
Meserve became the ninth president of the Carnegie Institution in April 2003, after stepping down as chairman of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC). Before joining the NRC, Meserve was a partner in the Washington, D.C., law firm of Covington & Burling LLP, and he now serves as Senior Of Counsel to the firm on a part-time basis. With his Harvard law degree, received in 1975, and his Ph.D. in applied physics from Stanford, awarded in 1976, he has devoted his legal practice to technical issues arising at the intersection of science, law, and public policy. Meserve is a graduate of Tufts University.
Meserve is a member of the Blue Ribbon Commission on America's Nuclear Future established by the Secretary of Energy at the direction of the President, and he is a member of the Board of Overseers of Harvard University. He currently serves as chairman of the International Nuclear Safety Group, which is chartered by the International Atomic Energy Agency.
Among other affiliations, he is a member of the National Academy of Engineering and the American Philosophical Society, and he is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and the American Physical Society. Meserve serves on the board of directors of PG&E Corporation and the Universities Research Association, Inc., on the Council and Trust of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and on the Council of the National Academy of Engineering.
The prestigious Russian Academy of Sciences was founded by Peter the Great. The academy has 11 scientific branches, 14 regional centers, three territorial branches, and numerous commissions, committees and councils.
It is a central player in the scientific and technical activities of Russia.
The Carnegie Institution for Science (carnegiescience.edu) is a private, nonprofit organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with six research departments throughout the U.S. Since its founding in 1902, the Carnegie Institution has been a pioneering force in basic scientific research. Carnegie scientists are leaders in plant biology, developmental biology, astronomy, materials science, global ecology, and Earth and planetary science.