Rita R. Colwell, PhD is Distinguished University Professor both at the University of Maryland at College Park and at Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health, Senior Advisor and Chairman Emeritus, Canon US Life Sciences, Inc., and President and CEO of CosmosID, Inc. Dr. Colwell, an expert on infectious diseases, became the first woman to direct the National Science Foundation from 1998 to 2004 Prior to joining the NSF, she was president of the University of Maryland Biotechnology Institute from 1991 to 1998. Dr. Colwell has held many advisory positions in the U.S Government, nonprofit science policy organizations, and private foundations, as well as in the international scientific research community. She has authored or co-authored 17 books and more than 700 scientific publications. She has previously served as Chairman of the Board of Governors of the American Academy of Microbiology and she is President of the American Institute of Biological Sciences. In 2006, she received the prestigious Order of the Rising Sun Gold and Silver Star from the Japanese government