Mark Stephen Wrighton (born June 11, 1949) is an American academic and chemist, and the current President of The George Washington University. In September 2021, Wrighton was named the Interim President of The George Washington University for an 18-month term and succeeded Thomas LeBlanc in January 2022. During his time at GWU, he was on sabbatical from Washington University in St. Louis where he is the James and Mary Wertsch Distinguished University Professor and Chancellor Emeritus. Wrighton served as the 14th Chancellor of Washington University in St. Louis from 1995 to 2019. Early life and education Wrighton was born in Jacksonville, Florida, and his father spent most of his career in the United States Navy. Wrighton moved with his family from Jacksonville to Virginia, Tennessee, Maryland, and Newfoundland, and he went to high school in Pensacola, Florida. Initially, Wrighton intended to study mathematics and government at Florida State University. Instead, inspired by his freshman chemistry professor, Edward Mellon, he switched his major to chemistry. Jack Saltiel became his advisor and mentor, and he continued undergraduate research in the area of organic photochemistry. Wrighton received his bachelor's degree with honors in chemistry at Florida State University in 1969, winning the Monsanto Chemistry Award for outstanding research. He received his PhD in 1972 at the age of 22 from the California Institute of Technology, working under Harry B. Gray and George S. Hammond. His doctoral dissertation subject was Photoprocesses in Metal-Containing Molecules. At Caltech, he became the first recipient of the Herbert Newby McCoy Award. Career Massachusetts Institute of Technology Wrighton joined the faculty of the chemistry department at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the summer of 1972 as an assistant professor. In 1976, he was promoted to associate professor and was made a full professor the following year, 1977. Wrighton held the Frederick G. Keyes Chair in Chemistry from 1981 to 1989, when he was given the newly endowed Ciba-Geigy Chair in Chemistry. In 1983, he received a MacArthur Foundation "genius grant." Wrighton's research interests are centered on photochemistry and transition metal catalysis, and include surface chemistry, molecular electronics and photoprocesses at electrodes. His goals include understanding the basic principles underlying the conversion of solar energy to chemical fuels and electricity, creating new catalysts, studying chemical activity at interfaces, and developing new electro-chemical devices. Wrighton has carried out work in the areas of inorganic photochemistry, photocatalysis and the use of