served until 2014. She was chair of the Board of Regents from 2012 to 2014. In 2014, Córdova was nominated by President Obama and confirmed by the United States Senate as the 14th head of the National Science Foundation. After her retirement from NSF, Córdova was elected to the Caltech Board of Trustees in June 2020. In May 2021, she was also named as President of the Science Philanthropy Alliance. Personal life Córdova is married to science educator Christian J. Foster, with whom she has two children, Anne-Catherine and Stephen. Honors and awards In 1996, received NASA's highest honor, the NASA Distinguished Service Medal. She was recognized as a 2000 Kilby Laureate, for "contributions to society through science, technology, innovation, invention, and education." She was named one of the 80 Elite Hispanic Women by Hispanic Business Magazine in 2002. In 2008, Córdova was nominated to the Stanford University Multicultural Alumni Hall of Fame by El Centro Chicano, Stanford's Chicano and Latino organization. She was appointed by President George W. Bush to the National Science Board in 2008. In 2012, she received the Women in Space Science Award from the Adler Planetarium. Purdue University's France A. Córdova Recreational Sports Center was named for her in 2012. A 98-million-dollar renovation of the 55-year-old facility was approved during her presidency. The building was one of 10 recreation facilities to receive a Facility of Merit Award for 2014 from Athletic Business. Córdova is a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), the Association for Women in Science (AWIS), and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and is a National Associate of the National Academies. She is an honorary member of the Royal Irish Academy. She has received numerous honorary doctorates, including from Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles (1997), Ben Gurion University of the Negev (2011), Purdue University (2012), Duke University (2015), the University of Connecticut (2016), and Rochester Institute of Technology (2016). References External links Oral history interview transcript with France Córdova on 11 May 2020, American Institute of Physics, Niels Bohr Library & Archives UC Riverside Chancellor France A. Córdova Named Purdue University President Purdue's new president 'out of this world' Gale - Free Resources - Hispanic Heritage - Biographies - France Anne Córdova France Córdova Video produced by Makers: Women Who Make America |- |- 1947 births 20th-century American astronomers 20th-century American women scientists 21st-century American