At a recent meeting of NCSE's board of directors, Francisco J. Ayala was elected as president, replacing Brian Alters, whose term on the board expired. Ayala is University Professor, the Donald Bren Professor of Biological Sciences, and Professor of Philosophy at the University of California, Irvine; his honors include the National Medal for Science, the Templeton Prize, and the Stephen Jay Gould Prize from the Society for the Study of Evolution.
"We are grateful to Brian Alters for his years of service to NCSE and to the cause of defending the integrity of science education, including his serving in the Kitzmiller trial," commented NCSE's executive director Ann Reid. "And we feel confident that with the support of Francisco Ayala we will be able to continue the important work defending and promoting the teaching of evolution and climate change that Alters so ably supported."
Also at the meeting, two new members joined the board: Barry Polisky and Kenneth R. Miller. Miller is a professor of biology at Brown University, the coauthor, with Joseph S. Levine, of several popular biology textbooks, and the author of Finding Darwin's God (1999) and Only a Theory (2008). Like Alters, he testified for the plaintiffs in the Kitzmiller trial. He is also a long-time member of NCSE's Advisory Council.
After a successful academic career as a molecular biology researcher at Indiana University, Polisky served as chief scientific officer for a number of biotechnology start-ups, including Sirna Therapeutics and Marina Biotech, and as research vice president at Merck and Co. He currently is serving as a consultant for a number of companies developing interfering RNA-based therapeutics.
On NCSE's board Miller and Polisky join Lorne Trottier of Matrox (the board's vice president), Robert M. West of Informal Learning Experiences (the board's secretary), Barbara Forrest of Southeastern Louisiana University, Michael Haas of Orion Renewable Energy Group, Richard B. Katskee of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, and Benjamin D. Santer of Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.