Mark S. Wrighton

Mark S. Wrighton, Ph.D., was elected the 14th Chancellor of Washington University in St. Louis in 1995, and serves as its chief executive officer. In the years following his appointment, the University has made significant progress in student quality, campus improvements, resource development, curriculum, and international reputation. He serves as chair of the Association of American Universities and the Business-Higher Education Forum. A MacArthur Fellow, he is a presidential appointee to the National Science Board.

Related Topics:
Washington University in St. Louis - National Science Board

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Born in Jacksonville, Florida in 1949, Wrighton received his B.S. degree with honors in chemistry from Florida State University in 1969. While at Florida State, he studied under Professor Jack Saltiel and upon graduation received the Monsanto Chemistry Award for outstanding research. He did his graduate work at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) under Professors Harry B. Gray and George S. Hammond, receiving his Ph.D. there in 1972. His doctoral dissertation was on "Photoprocesses in Metal-Containing Molecules." He was named the first recipient of the Herbert Newby McCoy Award at Caltech based on his research accomplishments. He received an Honorary Doctor of Science Degree from the University of West Florida in 1983 and the Distinguished Alumni Award from Caltech in 1992. In 1995 he delivered Caltech's commencement address. In 2002, he was named an Honorary Professor at Shandong University in Jinan, China.

Related Topics:
Jacksonville, Florida - Florida State University - Florida State - California Institute of Technology - Herbert Newby McCoy Award - University of West Florida - Shandong University - Jinan, China

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Wrighton started his career at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in 1972 as Assistant Professor of Chemistry. He was appointed Associate Professor in 1976 and Professor in 1977. From 1981 until 1989 he held the Frederick G. Keyes Chair in Chemistry. In 1989 he was appointed the first holder of the Ciba-Geigy Chair in Chemistry. He was Head of the Department of Chemistry from 1987-1990 and became Provost of MIT in 1990, a post he held until the summer of 1995.

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Wrighton is the author or co-author of more than 300 articles published in professional and scholarly journals, and he holds 14 patents. He has research interests in the areas of transition metal catalysis, photochemistry, surface chemistry, molecular electronics, and in photoprocesses at electrodes. Principal objectives of his research have been to elucidate the basic principles underlying the conversion of solar energy to chemical fuels and electricity, to discern new catalysts and ways of making them, to understand chemistry at interfaces, and to provide the knowledge base for development of new electro-chemical devices. Wrighton has lectured widely on his research work and has given more than 40 named lectureships at distinguished colleges and universities in the United States and other countries.

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He was awarded an Alfred P. Sloan Research Fellowship, 1974-1976, and was the recipient of a Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar Grant in 1975-1980. The American Chemical Society awarded him the Pure Chemistry Award in 1981 and the Award in Inorganic Chemistry in 1988. He was awarded a MacArthur Prize Fellowship in 1983. Also in 1983, he was awarded the Gregory and Freda Halpern Award in Photochemistry by the New York Academy of Sciences and the E. O. Lawrence Award by the United States Department of Energy. In 1984 he was selected as the recipient of the Fresenius Award of Phi Lambda Upsilon. Wrighton's teaching activities have been rewarded with the MIT Chemistry Department Graduate Teaching Award in 1981 and the MIT School of Science Teaching Prize in 1987. About 70 individuals have received the Ph.D. degree under his supervision at MIT.

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Wrighton was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1988 and of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 1986. In 2001, he was elected to membership in the American Philosophical Society. Wrighton has received public recognition for his research and educational achievements in the print media. In the September, 1980 issue of Fortune he was profiled along with eight other U.S. scientists under age 40, highlighting his efforts in duplicating photosynthesis. In 1984, Science Digest included him as one of America's brightest scientists under age 40, and in 1985 named him one of America's top 100 innovators of the year. U.S. News and World Report featured Wrighton in a February, 1988 cover story on "The New American Establishment," and in Business Weeks 1989 special issue on "Innovation in America" his work on molecular electronics was profiled and he was included as one of the ten innovators in science. He was included in Esquires 1989 Register along with 38 other men and women "who are making America a smarter, healthier, wealthier, safer, livelier, prettier, all around more interesting place to live." He was named "Humanitarian of the Year 2000" by the Arthritis Foundation's Eastern Missouri Chapter.

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