Professor Geraldine Richmond, University of Oregon, Eugene, USA, began her three-year term as President-Elect of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) on 18 February 2014, at the close of the 180th Annual Meeting in Chicago, USA.

The current President-Elect, Gerald Fink, Whitehead Institute, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, MA, USA, will begin his term as AAAS President. The current President, Phillip A. Sharp, MIT, and 1983 Nobel Prize winner, will become Chairman of the AAAS Board of Directors.

Geraldine Richmond studied chemistry at Kansas State University, Manhattan, USA, and obtained her Ph.D. in chemical physics at the University of California, Berkeley, USA, in 1980. After working for five years as an Assistant Professor of Chemistry, Bryn Mawr College, USA, she was appointed as an Associate Professor of chemistry at University of Oregon in 1985. Since then she has remained there and has held a variety of positions including Director of the Chemical Physics Institute and Richard M. and Patricia H. Noyes Professor of Chemistry.
Currently, she is Presidential Chair and Professor of Chemistry. She is also the founder and chair of COACh, an organization created to increase the number and career success of women scientists and engineers in the United States and developing countries.

Richmond’s research involves the use of laser spectroscopic techniques and theoretical computational methods to study the molecular structure of molecules at wet interfaces, that is, interfaces between a liquid and another media such as air, solids, or other immiscible liquids.

Selected publications:

• Ion Induced Reorientation and Distribution of Pentanone in the Air-Water Boundary Layer,
  K. L. Plath, N. A. Valley, G. L. Richmond,
  J. Phys. Chem. A 2013, 117, 11514–11527.
  DOI: 10.1021/jp408188x
• Time-resolved Measurement of Free Carrier Absorption, Diffusivity, and Internal Quantum Efficiency in Silicon,
  J. Meitzner, F. Moore, B. Tillotson, S. D. Kevan, G. L. Richmond,
  Appl. Phys. Lett. 2013, 103, 92101.
  DOI: 10.1063/1.4819447
• Staying Hydrated: The Molecular Journey of Gaseous Sulfur Dioxide to a Water Surface,
  E. S. Shamay, N. A. Valley, F. G. Moore, G. L. Richmond,
  Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys. 2013, 15, 6893–6902.
  DOI: 10.1039/c3cp50609f