Nichols, a former executive vice president of Rockefeller University who since October 1990 has been a scholar-in-residence at the Carnegie Corporation of New York, assumes his post at the 31,000-member academy on April 1. He succeeds Oakes Ames, who resigned last August after less than 2 1/2 years on the job (The Scientist, Sept. 30, 1991, page 3).
The 54-year-old Nichols notes that "New York City is blessed with many research universities and intellectuals in a variety of fields. But they haven't been organized in New York to think about the rest of the country, or even about New York itself."
The new CEO says he hopes to strengthen the academy's role as "a forum for bringing together the people in New York who otherwise would go to Washington" to discuss national and global issues at the National Academy of Sciences or other national forums.
Nichols's experience at focusing on ...
