Hon. Rush D. Holt, PhD

Rush D. Holt, PhD has held positions as a teacher, scientist, administrator, and policymaker. In 1982, he took leave from his faculty position at Swarthmore College to serve as an AAAS/American Physical Society Science and Technology Policy Fellow on Capitol Hill. Holt has said that his fellowship was “life changing,” and served as a springboard to his role in Congress. Before coming to AAAS, Holt served for 16 years as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives, representing New Jersey’s 12th Congressional District. On Capitol Hill, Holt established a long track record of advocacy for federal investment in research and development, science education, and innovation. He served on the National Commission on the Teaching of Mathematics and Science (known as the Glenn Commission), founded the Congressional Research and Development Caucus, and served as a co-chair of the Biomedical Research Caucus. Holt served eight years on the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence and chaired the Select Intelligence Oversight Panel, which worked to strengthen legislative oversight of the intelligence community. Following his service in Congress, Dr. Holt became the chief executive officer of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) and executive publisher of the Science family of journals in February 2015 until his retirement in July 2019.

 Back to Board of Directors and Officers