Currently the chief executive officer for the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center, Murphy is the former deputy director of the National Park Service, where he assisted in managing 390 national park units covering approximately 84 million acres, more than 23,000 employees and a total budget of more than $2.3 billion. Murphy previously served for seven years as the director of California State Parks, the nation’s largest and most diverse state park system. He has spoken nationwide on the subject of the Land and Water Conservation Fund and co-founded the Americans for our Heritage and Recreation. He is also an accomplished and published poet. Murphy is a former trustee of the Golden Gate National Park Association and the National Parks Conservation Association. Murphy earned a B.A. in Biology from the University of California, San Diego.

Celniker has enjoyed a distinguished career in the field of biotechnology, holding senior positions at top companies, including Novartis Biologics, Genentech, and most recently as chief executive officer of Taligen. Dr. Celniker has more than twenty years of experience in building biologics-focused businesses. While serving as global head of Novartis Biologics, she built and managed the basic infrastructure and strategy for the late-stage discovery and development of protein therapeutics. At Genentech, her group was responsible for pioneering the use and refinement of many of the current analytical assays now used to characterize all protein biopharmaceuticals. She holds a Ph.D. in molecular biology from the University of Arizona and a B.A. in Biology from the University of California, San Diego.

Gary Curtis ’69, Revelle

Gary Curtis is an entrepreneur and biomedical pioneer, having launched eight successful biomedical startup companies.  In 1990, Curtis established the first alumni endowed scholarships in honor of his father, Thomas Curtis, to help alleviate the financial struggle of other UC San Diego students. The scholarship awards upperclassmen in the sciences with an interest in business and demonstrated leadership in the world around them.  His service has extended beyond academics with his generous support of the Chancellor’s 5K Run/Walk for scholars and his volunteer service as a trustee of the UC San Diego Foundation.

Jeffrey Rabin has been a professor of mathematics since 1987. Not only do his students greatly appreciate his teaching abilities, his peers have recognized him for his teaching service with an Academic Senate Distinguished Teaching Award. After receiving his Ph.D. in Physics from Stanford University, Rabin conducted research in theoretical particle physics at Yale University and the University of Chicago. In 1998 he helped design the Algebraic Thinking Institute (ATI) at UC San Diego, an intensive summer professional development institute for high school algebra teachers. Rabin was co-director of ATI in 1999, 2000, and 2003 and serves on the faculty of MSED, the joint Ph.D. program in Mathematics and Science Education of University of California, San Diego and San Diego State University.