Dr. Keith O. Hodgson
Deputy Director
 Deputy Director and Director for Photon Science
Howard H and Jessie T. Watkins University Professor of SSRL and
Chemistry.
Professor Hodgson has made seminal research contributions in the fields
of physical inorganic chemistry and biophysics. A common theme in his research
is the development of new technological tools which utilize synchrotron
x-rays to study structure and function at the atomic level. His contributions
in the development and chemical applications of x-ray absorption spectroscopy
(edge and EXAFS) have gained him the reputation as an internationally-recognized
innovator. Many of the other leading scientists in this field have been
trained in his laboratories. He pioneered the applications of synchrotron
radiation to macromolecular crystallography and made seminal contributions
to the use of multiple wavelengths to solve the classic "phase problem"
for protein crystallographic structure solution (the so-called “MAD” approach).
He is now working to innovate new directions using x-ray free electron lasers
for imaging of biological and non-periodic nanostructured materials and
for studying structural dynamics on the femtosecond time scale. The scientific
focus of much of his work has been on fundamental problems in bioinorganic
chemistry. Our understanding of key structural aspects of the active sites
of important proteins, including those responsible for the fixation of nitrogen
(nitrogenase) and the oxidation of hydrocarbons (the methane monooxygenases),
were (among others) first obtained from his work. He is the author of more
than 300 scholarly publications in scientific journals and has given numerous
invited lectures on his research.
Dr. Hodgson has played a major role in "advocating" synchrotron radiation
research and promoting its development for chemistry and structural biology
- including being a member of National Academy and DOE panels that have
dealt with such issues over the past decade. He has also been active (and
Chair in both cases for one year) on International Advisory Committees for
Conferences on X-ray absorption spectroscopy and on Biophysics and Synchrotron
Radiation. He has served (by invitation) on the NIH strategic planning task
force and the NCRR (National Center for Research Resources of NIH) strategic
planning task force (both in 1994 and again in 1997). He served a term on the National Institutes of Health National Center for Research
Resources Council and he was the Chairperson of the U.S. Department of Energy
external advisory committee (BERAC) to its Office of Biological and
Environmental Research for the past 10 years (he is still a member of
the committee). He has held positions on the editorial boards of Structure, Spectrochimica
Acta, Inorganic Chemistry and Journal of Biological Inorganic Chemistry.
He is a member of the international scientific advisory committee to the
CCLRC in UK.
Dr. Hodgson completed his Bachelor's
of Science degree at the University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia
in 1969 and received his Ph.D. in Chemistry from the University of California
at Berkeley, California in 1972 under a National Science Foundation Traineeship.
Following a postdoctoral year at the Eidgenossiche Technische Hochschule,
Zürich, Switzerland as a NATO fellow in 1973, Dr. Hodgson joined the faculty
of Stanford University as an Assistant Professor of Chemistry. He was subsequently
promoted to Associate and then Full Professor. He has been a fellow of the
Alfred P. Sloan foundation, a recipient of the Sidhu X-ray Diffraction Award
given by the American Crystallographic Association, a Robert A. Welch Foundation
Lecturer, a World Bank Lecturer in Chemistry, and recipient of the 2002
E.O. Lawrence Award from the U.S. Department of Energy. He is the SLAC
Deputy Director responsible for the photon science portfolio, which is
the fastest growing area at SLAC. By 2009, photon science at SLAC will
enable forefront research using two advanced accelerators - SPEAR3 and
the worlds first x-ray free electron laser, LCLS.
He also shares responsibility for the operation and development of the structural
molecular biology program at SSRL, which develops new physical methods and
supports users in this high impact scientific area.
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