NAS president to give
commencement address

Cicerone, five others to receive honorary degrees

Cicerone

Dr. Ralph Cicerone, president of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS), will deliver the NC State commencement address on Saturday, May 13, at the RBC Center. The commencement ceremony will begin at 9 a.m.

Cicerone is an atmospheric scientist whose research in atmospheric chemistry and climate change has helped shape science and environmental policy both nationally and internationally. His research has also received worldwide recognition from the World Cultural Council and the United Nations. Prior to becoming the president of the NAS, Cicerone was chancellor at the University of California, Irvine.

Cicerone’s research was recognized on the citation for the 1995 Nobel Prize in chemistry awarded to his University of California, Irvine colleague, F. Sherwood Rowland.

In 2001, at the request of President George W. Bush, Cicerone led a NAS study of the current state of climate change and its impact on the environment and human health.

During commencement, Chancellor James L. Oblinger will confer honorary degrees on behalf of NC State to Cicerone and five other distinguished recipients:

Effron

David Effron – Grammy Award-winning conductor and educator. He serves as the artistic director and principal conductor of the Brevard Music Center and as professor of music at Indiana University. Effron served on the conducting staff of the New York City Opera for 18 years. He has a repertoire of more than 100 operas and his recordings include the Grammy Award-winning A Lincoln Portrait by Aaron Copland (with the Eastman Philharmonic) and John Corigliano’s Pied Piper Fantasy with flutist James Galway.

Hunter

Dr. J. Stuart Hunter – one of the world’s foremost statisticians and a devoted supporter of NC State. Hunter is a pioneer in industrial experimental design and is the co-author of the classic statistics textbook, Statistics for Experimenters. A member of the National Academy of Engineering, he has devoted his professional life to the industrial applications of statistics. From 1961 until he retired in 1986, Hunter was a popular instructor at Princeton University and is now professor emeritus in Princeton’s School of Engineering and Applied Science. In 2004, Hunter was named a Distinguished Alumnus for the NC State College of Physical and Mathematical Sciences.

McFadden

Dr. Daniel L. McFadden – professor of economics at the University of California, Berkeley. McFadden, a North Carolina native, received a 2000 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences for his work in microeconometrics, a method for studying economic decisions using complex mathematical equations. His groundbreaking work used mathematical models to analyze how consumers make decisions on where they work, shop and travel. McFadden has taught for more than 40 years, with stints at the University of Pittsburgh, Yale and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He has been a faculty member at Berkeley since 1991 and is the former chair of the school’s Department of Economics.

Ruffin

Dr. John Ruffin – director of the National Center on Minority Health and Health Disparities (NCMHD) at the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Ruffin is recognized worldwide for his work in improving the health status of minority populations in the United States and in developing and supporting educational programs for minority researchers and health-care practitioners. Before becoming director of NCMHD, Ruffin served as director of the NIH’s Office of Research on Minority Health, where he developed biomedical research and training programs. Prior to joining the NIH in 1991, Ruffin was dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at North Carolina Central University.

Dr. George S. Tolley – president of RCF Economic and Financial Consulting Inc., and professor emeritus of economics at the University of Chicago. Tolley has helped shape domestic policy and influence international development by performing extensive international work for the World Bank and the U.S. Agency for International Development. He has also served as an economic policy consultant to seven foreign governments. Since 1965, Tolley has served on various committees of the National Academy of Sciences, including automotive pollution, water policy and energy engineering. From 1955-66 he was a faculty member of NC State’s Department of Economics and Business.

Posted April 7, 2006

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