Ph.D. in Oceanography from the University of Washington
- President of the University of Maryland Biotechnology Institute (until March 1998)
- 11th Director of the United States National Science Foundation (NSF) (until March 2004)
- Chairman, Chairman Emeritus, and Senior Scientist of Canon U.S. Life Sciences (until December 2010)
- March 2008, Distinguished Professor at University of Maryland, College Park, as well as at the Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health (- present)
| 1984 | Member of the National Science Board (until 1990) |
| August 1998 | Co-chair of the Committee on Science of the National Science and Technology Council (until March 2004) |
| January 2008 | President of the American Institute of Biological Sciences (until December 2008) |
| November 2011 | Member, Board of Governors, Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology School Corporation (-present) |
| May 1985 | Fisher Award of the American Society for Microbiology |
| 1990 | Gold Medal Award of the International Institute of Biotechnology |
| 1993 | Phi Kappa Phi National Scholar Award |
| 2006 | National Medal of Science, U.S.A. |
