Rush Holt Appointed Director’s Visitor at Institute for Advanced Study

PRESS CONTACT: Christine Ferrara, (609) 734-8239

U.S. Representative Rush Holt was appointed a Director’s Visitor at the Institute for Advanced Study, through March 1, 2015. Director’s Visitors are scholars from a variety of fields who are invited to the Institute to pursue their research interests. While a Director’s Visitor, Holt will reflect on science, policy and their interaction.

Holt, who represents the 12th District of New Jersey, will retire at the end of this year after serving eight terms and will take up his new position in February 2015 as chief executive officer and executive publisher of the Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). The AAAS is the world’s largest general scientific society and publisher of the Science family of journals.

As a physicist and a member of Congress with a distinguished record of public service, Holt has worked to advance science, promote public engagement with science and technology and ensure that accurate scientific information informs policy decisions. In his fifteen years as a member of Congress, Holt helped to secure more than $22 billion in new federal funding for science and technology research. He passed an amendment to the Land and Water Conservation Fund, providing millions in funding for protecting open space, and he was instrumental in adding the lower Delaware River to the National Wild and Scenic River program. As a member of the House Committee on Education and Labor, Holt helped write the College Cost Reduction Act— the largest college aid expansion since the GI Bill—which includes Holt’s provision to provide upfront tuition assistance for math, science and foreign language teachers, supporting Holt’s effort to strengthen such education in the U.S.

“We are thrilled to have Rush here at the Institute,” stated Robbert Dijkgraaf, Director of the Institute and Leon Levy Professor. “His deep curiosity and engagement in issues facing science, education and policy will inspire new dialogues within and outside of the Institute community.”

“It is a great privilege and honor to be able to spend some time among the powerful thinkers at the Institute,” stated Holt. “It is a fine opportunity for me to consider the health of science in America and how the scientific enterprise can be fostered and sustained.”

Holt earned his B.A. in Physics from Carleton College and he completed his Master’s degree and Ph.D. at New York University. Prior to becoming a U. S. Congressman, Holt was Assistant Director of the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory from 1989–1998. He has also held positions as a teacher, Congressional Science Fellow, and arms control expert at the U.S. State Department where he monitored the nuclear programs of countries such as Iraq, Iran, North Korea and the former Soviet Union. Rep. Holt has received numerous awards and citations for his work, including the Planned Parenthood Community Service Award, the Biotech Legislator of the Year and the Science Coalition’s Champion of Science award. Holt was also a five-time winner of the game show “Jeopardy,” and in February 2011, he defeated Watson, IBM’s computer system, in a simulated round of “Jeopardy” at an event to promote innovation.

About the Director’s Visitor Program

The Director’s Visitor program enables the Director to invite scholars from a variety of fields, including areas not represented within the four Schools, to participate in the range of intellectual and social activities at the Institute. J. Robert Oppenheimer (1947–66) was the first Director to invite scholars to the Institute for stays in areas ranging from literature, psychology, philosophy and law, to modern history, history of science and biology. Harry Woolf (1976–87) formalized the program during his tenure, and since that time there have been nearly 80 scholars invited as Director’s Visitors, who contribute much to the vitality of the Institute. Past Director’s Visitors include philosopher Paul Benacerraf, biochemist Paul Berg, political theorist Isaiah Berlin, former U.S. Ambassador William H. Luers, and writer Sylvia Nasar, among others. A listing of Director’s Visitors may be viewed here.

About the Institute for Advanced Study

The Institute for Advanced Study is one of the world’s leading centers for theoretical research and intellectual inquiry. The Institute exists to encourage and support curiosity-driven research in the sciences and humanities—the original, often speculative thinking that produces advances in knowledge that change the way we understand the world. Work at the Institute takes place in four Schools: Historical Studies, Mathematics, Natural Sciences and Social Science. It provides for the mentoring of scholars by a permanent Faculty of approximately 30, and it ensures the freedom to undertake research that will make significant contributions in any of the broad range of fields in the sciences and humanities studied at the Institute.

The Institute, founded in 1930, is a private, independent academic institution located in Princeton, New Jersey. Its more than 6,000 former Members hold positions of intellectual and scientific leadership throughout the academic world. Thirty-three Nobel Laureates and 40 out of 56 Fields Medalists, as well as many winners of the Wolf and MacArthur prizes, have been affiliated with the Institute.