“I am pleased to have the opportunity to work with this distinguished group of scientific and industrial leaders on behalf of the future of California,” Dr. Richmond said of his appointment.
Dr. Richmond, who earned his Ph.D. in genetics in 1971 from The Rockefeller University, New York, joins the council in its 20th anniversary year. In the two decades since its establishment by the state legislature in 1988, it has provided lawmakers with analyses of such key sectors as food biotechnology, nanotechnology (molecular manipulation of materials), information technology, energy sources, economic development and transportation.
The council also furnishes legislators with briefings and reviews of the more than 100 bills introduced each year that involve science and technology.
Dr. Richmond’s scholarship has centered on the genetic mechanisms of evolution. During a period of more than 20 years, he explored the molecular evolution and reproduction behavior of fruit flies, the resistance of fruit flies to malathion and the effects of cocaine and neurotoxins on fruit flies.
President Richmond won numerous National Institutes of Health and National Science Foundation research grants before becoming President of HSU in 2002. He has published more than 80 articles in his field and he is a member of the Genetics Society of America, the Society for the Study of Evolution and a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the California Academy of Sciences.