Langford marks first year as NSM Dean

Thom Kendall Photo

September marked George M. Langford’s first anniversary as Dean of the College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics (NSM). Dean Langford, who also serves as Professor of Biology, is a nationally known scientist, researcher, and teacher. He was formerly the Ernest Everett Just Professor of Natural Sciences and Professor of Biological Sciences at Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire, and an Adjunct Professor of Physiology at the Dartmouth Medical School from 1991 until 2005.

As part of his efforts to transform the College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics into a leading center of excellence on a global scale, Dean Langford has launched a Visioning Planning process in NSM to strengthen five key areas: Nanoscience and Nanotechnology; Biomedical Innovation; Energy Science and Technology;  Environmental Science and Education; and Science and Mathematics Education Reform. He has appointed Computer Science Professor Lori Clarke as a member of his blueribbon Visioning Steering Committee.

“I have every confidence in NSM’s capacity for excellence, with Computer Science as one of our top-ranked departments,” says Langford. “I firmly believe that with prudent investments and strategic visioning, CS will shine even more brightly.”

Dean Langford is also planning a national conference, The Science and Engineering Workforce: The American Solution, to take place in fall 2007.

A cell biologist and neuroscientist, Dean Langford studies cellular mechanisms of learning and memory. The aim of his research is to better understand how the brain remembers and what makes it forget when neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s take hold.

In 1998, Dean Langford was nominated by then President Bill Clinton to the National Science Board (NSB), the governing board of the National Science Foundation, to advise the President and Congress on national science policy. He served on the NSB from 1998 to 2004, as Chair of the NSB Education and Human Resources Committee from 2002 to 2004 and as Vice-Chair for the NSB National Workforce Taskforce Subcommittee from 1999 to 2004.

Dean Langford received his Ph.D. from the Illinois Institute of Technology and completed postdoctoral training as an NIH fellow in the cell biology program at the University of Pennsylvania. He was Professor of Physiology in the School of Medicine at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill before joining the faculty at Dartmouth College.