Elected President of The George Washington University January 1, 2022, and concurrently on sabbatical from Washington University in St. Louis (WUSTL) where he served as the 14th Chancellor of the University from July 1, 1995 - May 31, 2019, and is the James and Mary Wertsch Distinguished University Professor and Chancellor Emeritus. Wrighton served as a presidential appointee to the National Science Board (2000-06), which is the science policy advisor to the President and Congress and the primary advisory board of the National Science Foundation. He is a past chair of the Business-Higher Education Forum and the Association of American Universities. Wrighton received the distinguished MacArthur Prize for his research and scholarly writing. He is the author of over 300 articles in professional and scholarly journals, is the holder of 16 patents, and co-author of a book, Organometallic Photochemistry. From 1990 until 1995, he served as provost and chief academic officer at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. A member of the MIT faculty from 1972 until 1995, and was named Frederick G. Keyes Professor of Chemistry in 1981. He became head of the Chemistry Department in 1987. In 1989 he was named the first holder of the Ciba-Geigy Professorship. Wrighton received his B.S. degree with honors in chemistry from Florida State University in 1969 and his Ph.D. in chemistry from the California Institute of Technology in 1972.