Finding the right person to lead an institute that will be the focus of the New Life Sciences Initiative (NLSI) was no easy task. The search that led to Scott Emr, the newly named director of the Institute of Cell and Molecular Biology, involved the same 10-member committee of faculty and administrators that created the institute.

"We talked to a number of leading biologists around the country, including Nobel laureates, who helped put together a short list of outstanding cell biologists. Scott Emr was on that list," said Richard Cerione, chair of the search committee and the Goldwin Smith Professor of Pharmacology and Chemical Biology. "He's an outstanding scientist. He has made seminal contributions to fundamentally important questions in cell biology. And he's personable."

Now that Emr is on his way to Cornell, many at the university are looking to him to advance and extend the vision the committee set forth for the NLSI.

"Bringing Scott Emr to the Cornell faculty is a key to advancing the university's New Life Sciences Initiative and creating the Institute of Cell and Molecular Biology," said Cornell Provost Carolyn A. "Biddy" Martin. "Scott is looking forward to many important scientific collaborations at the university, and we are all very excited about what his leadership will enable."

The hire is important because the institute and the NLSI are part of Cornell's strategy to keep pace with the genomics-led revolution in the life sciences and the vast amounts of new information that will increase our understanding of life.

"Because of his leadership role as founding director of the new institute, Scott will play the central role in the transformation of our basic biological sciences for the 21st century," said Stephen Kresovich, Cornell's vice provost for the life sciences.