Last week, Michael T. Clegg, distinguished professor of genetics at the University of California, Riverside was elected to the office of Foreign Secretary of the US National Academy of Sciences. Prof. Clegg will serve a four-year term. The Academy membership is comprised of approximately 1,900 members and 300 foreign associates, of whom more than 170 have won Nobel Prizes.

Prof. Clegg joined UCR in 1984. Prior to coming to UCR he served on the faculties of the University of Georgia and Brown University. He is a native of California and received his B.S. and Ph.D. degrees at the University of California, Davis. Prof Clegg is director of the UCR Genomics Institute and of the California Institute for Agricultural Genomics. He is also former dean of UCR's College of Natural and Agricultural Sciences.

There are four main duties associated with the office of Foreign Secretary. These are:

1. Supervise the election of foreign associates to the US National Academy of Sciences. Fifteen foreign associates are elected per year from the international science community. These individuals represent the scientific leaders of their countries.

2. Serve on an executive committee that manages the affairs of the US National Academy of Sciences.

3. Serve on the governing board which manages the National Research Council, the working arm of the National Academy of Sciences that conducts science policy studies primarily the U.S.government.

4. Manage liaisons with the science academies of other countries, with the particular goal of addressing science-based policy issues of broad international concern.

The National Academy of Sciences was chartered by the US Congress and signed into being by President Abraham Lincoln on March 3, 1863, at the height of the Civil War. The academy is a private, non-profit, self-perpetuating society. Its distinguished scholars are engaged in scientific and engineering research, dedicated to the furtherance of science and technology and to their use for the general welfare.