Oceans, Climate, and Pandemics: Lessons From Cholera and Related Vibrios

In collaboration with the North Shore Technology Council, Endicott College is proud to host Dr. Rita Cowell for a talk and reception on Friday, September 20.

Rita Colwell, the first woman to become the Director of the National Science Foundation and author of A Lab of One’s Own: One Woman’s Personal Journey Through Sexism in Science, will speak to her experience as a woman scientist while making ground-breaking discoveries in microbiology and its relationship to the environment and public health.

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Dr. Rita Rossi Colwell is a pioneering microbiologist and marine scientist as well as a distinguished scientific administrator. She is renowned for her contributions to the field of cholera and is a dedicated advocate for the role of safe drinking water in preventing global infectious diseases. She was the first woman to lead the National Science Foundation (1998-2004) and championed innovation in science and engineering education, including increased participation of women and minorities. She was awarded the 2006 National Medal of Science. Dr. Colwell has served as President, American Society for Microbiology (ASM) and President of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), President of the Sigma Xi National Science Honorary Society, among a long list of leadership positions, and is a member of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences. It is further testament to her impact that she has been awarded 63 honorary degrees. Her visionary leadership and unwavering commitment to scientific discovery have solidified her status as a preeminent figure in the scientific community and a global humanitarian.

Currently, Dr. Colwell serves as a Distinguished University Professor at the University of Maryland and at Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health. She is an entrepreneur as well, serving as chairman of CosmosID, a bioinformatics company she founded.

Dr. Colwell is a native of Beverly, MA. Her local connections include serving on the Board of Ocean Genome Legacy, currently led by Sir Richard Roberts of New England Biolabs. She recently published a compelling autobiographical account beginning with her childhood in Beverly, “A Lab of One’s Own: One Woman’s Personal Journey Through Sexism in Science.” We owe her so much for all the glass ceilings she has broken.

Read more about Dr. Colwell: https://www.umiacs.umd.edu/people/rita-colwell

Host or Publisher Endicott College