Dr. Córdova is the 7th Chancellor of the University of California, Riverside. She held previous appointments as vice chancellor for research and professor of physics at the University of California at Santa Barbara, chief scientist for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), Head of the Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics at The Pennsylvania State University, and Deputy Group Leader of the Space Astronomy and Astrophysics Group at the Los Alamos National Laboratory. Dr. Córdova has served on numerous policy, advisory, and review boards and committees for agencies of the federal government, the National Academy of Sciences, and university and scientific associations. In 2002, Dr. Córdova was given the lifetime designation of National Associate of the National Academies. She has been awarded NASA's highest honor, the Distinguished Service Medal. She has published more than 130 scientific papers. Dr. Córdova holds a B.A. from Stanford University, a Ph.D. in Physics from the California Institute of Technology, and an honorary Doctorate of Science from Loyola-Marymount University.