FRANCE A. CÓRDOVA

The youngest of twelve children, France A. Cordova was born in Paris, France to an Irish American mother and a Mexican American father. The family returned to the U.S. when Cordova was six, after her father had finished his work in Europe.

Cordova earned her B.A. in English from Stanford but changed her course of study to Astrophysics after the 1969 U.S. Moon Landing. She later said that “…as a child, I loved to look at the night sky and ask ‘Why are there stars? How are they formed?’… Asking those questions led me to where I am today.”

Cordova went on to earn her Ph.D. in Physics from the California Institute of Technology. Her research included x-ray and gamma ray sources, and space-borne instrumentation; she has published more than 150 scientific papers.  In 1993, having worked at the Los Alamos National Laboratory and headed the Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics at Pennsylvania State University, she became the first woman and youngest person to hold the position of Chief Scientist of NASA. She was awarded the agency's highest honor, the Distinguished Service Medal.

After a distinguished academic career, Córdova became the Director of the National Science Foundation (NSF) from 2014 to 2020. There she oversaw an $8.3 billion yearly budget and established initiatives promoting scientific discovery, technological innovation, and STEM education.  

Now President Emeritus of Purdue University, Cordova is the recipient of several honorary doctorates.