France Cordova
| France Anne Córdova | |
|---|---|
 |
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| 14th Director of the National Science Foundation | |
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Assumed office March 2014 |
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| Preceded by | Cora Bagley Marrett |
| 11th President of Purdue University | |
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In office 2007–2012 |
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| Preceded by | Martin C. Jischke |
| Succeeded by | Mitch Daniels |
| Chancellor of University of California, Riverside | |
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In office 2002–2007 |
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| Personal details | |
| Born |
August 5, 1947 Paris, France |
| Spouse(s) | Christian J. Foster |
| Children | 2 |
| Alma mater |
Stanford University California Institute of Technology |
| Profession | Astrophysicist |
| Institutions |
National Science Foundation Purdue University University of California, Riverside University of California, Santa Barbara Pennsylvania State University Los Alamos National Laboratory NASA |
France Anne-Dominic Córdova (born August 5, 1947) is an American astrophysicist and administrator, who is the director of the National Science Foundation. Previously, she was the eleventh President of Purdue University from 2007 to 2012.
Córdova was born in Paris, France, the eldest of twelve children. Her mother was Irish-American and her father a Mexican-American West Point graduate and businessman. She attended high school at Bishop Amat High School in La Puente, California, east of Los Angeles and went on to Stanford University, where she graduated cum laude with a bachelor's degree in English and conducted anthropological field work in a Zapotec Indian pueblo in Oaxaca, Mexico. She earned a PhD in Physics from the California Institute of Technology in 1978.
Córdova worked at the Space Astronomy and Astrophysics Group at the Los Alamos National Laboratory from 1979 to 1989, where she also served as Deputy Group Leader. She headed the Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics at Pennsylvania State University from 1989 to 1993. From 1993 to 1996, Córdova was the youngest person and first woman to hold the position of NASA Chief Scientist, serving as the primary scientific advisor to the NASA administrator and the principal interface between NASA headquarters and the broader scientific community.
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