Ellis Rubinstein

President, The New York Academy of Sciences

Ellis Rubinstein is an innovator and change agent. For over 3 decades, he has broken new ground, whether as a reporter writing prize-winning investigative articles, as an editor tasked to increase the impact and relevancy of major publications, and, now, as the leader of a unique global academy of sciences.

As President and CEO of The New York Academy of Sciences since November 2002, Mr. Rubinstein devised a series of ground-breaking initiatives that are rejuvenating the 192-year-old science and technology association with its 24,000 members in 140 countries. The New York Science Alliance for Graduate Students and Post Docs is an unprecedented partnership of over 30 universities and academic medical centers that provides career-mentoring to over 6,000 young investigators. The Frontiers of Science Program has become a “science salon” for leading researchers in the hottest fields of science. An innovative Web content delivery mechanism, the eBriefing, provides scientists worldwide with leading-edge information from nearly 100 events a year. Science & the City is a unique Web portal for scientists, parents, teachers and students, providing live links, updated daily, to exciting science-related events taking place throughout New York City and on radio and television. And Scientists Without BordersSM is a global alliance of national funding agencies, public/private partnerships, universities, corporations and foundations that is committed to enhancing the impact of sustainable development initiatives currently underway in sub-Saharan Africa.

Because of such initiatives, 26 Nobel Prize winners and a score of international leaders of industry, academia and government have joined Mr. Rubinstein’s President’s Council. And leaders in 10 cities – London, Barcelona, Mexico City, Sao Paulo, Delhi, Shanghai and more – have invited The New York Academy of Sciences to partner with them to advance science, address global challenges and enhance their region’s competitiveness.

Mr. Rubinstein came to the Academy after more than 13 years with the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), where he served as Editor of Science magazine from 1993-2002, having previously been News Editor. Prior to Science, Mr. Rubinstein was Editor of The Scientist and a Senior Editor at Newsweek. He also served as Managing Editor of Science 85/86, a high quality, mass-circulation magazine, and IEEE Spectrum, the principal magazine of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers.

During his 3 decades as a journalist and editor, he was thrice honored by National Magazine Awards—the Pulitzer Prizes of the periodical industry. He also conducted the first one-on-one interview with Chinese President Jiang Zemin granted to a Western magazine editor and garnered President Bill Clinton's first interview with a science magazine. In addition, he wrote the most complete investigative report of the nuclear power accident at Three Mile Island—the source of the first National Magazine Award—and he wrote a much cited investigative report on the true derivation of the cell line in which the AIDS virus was first grown in Robert Gallo’s laboratory.

Among his other signal accomplishments, as Editor of Science, Mr. Rubinstein developed the world's largest network of science journalists and launched innovative online services such as a daily news service, ScienceNow, and Science's Next Wave, a unique, global Web site for graduate students and post-docs. He also initiated a novel Web-based service called SAGE KE (Science of Aging Knowledge Environment), creating a community of investigators pursuing the science of aging. Mr. Rubinstein negotiated the first national license to be paid for by the Chinese government for access to Western content. And he revolutionized the Chinese scientific community’s access to Western scientific information when the service came to be used by hundreds of thousands of Chinese investigators.

At Newsweek, Mr. Rubinstein oversaw general news coverage during one of the most intense periods in recent U.S. history—the Iran-Contra period—as well as specialty features in science, medicine, religion, and education. Perhaps his signal achievement was a cover package entitled “The Search for Adam and Eve.” This was the first description for the general public of the then novel DNA-tracing of the origins of modern humans in Africa. It became the highest selling edition of Newsweek over a two-year period.

At Science 86 and, before that, at IEEE Spectrum, Mr. Rubinstein brought his employers National Magazine Awards—one for a four-part series, "Technology for Peace," developed for Science 85, and twice previously for special issues developed for IEEE Spectrum. In addition, three other special issues developed and edited by Mr. Rubinstein were named National Magazine Award finalists.

Throughout his career, Mr. Rubinstein has broken ground internationally. In addition to his path-breaking activities in China, Mr. Rubinstein developed a number of major international meetings, such as "Agents for Change," a gathering of European research VPs, foundation heads, university presidents and government leaders at Stockholm's Nobel Forum. He also pioneered in the creation of global partnerships with prestigious governmental institutions such as China's Ministry of Science and Technology; Japan's Society for the Promotion of Science; the United Kingdom's Ministry of Trade, the German Research Foundation, France’s INSERM, the European Science Foundation, and the European Commission.

Recently, Mr. Rubinstein developed a unique alliance between the Nobel Foundation, its website called NobelPrize.org, the Swedish Consulate in New York and The New York Academy of Sciences. For 3 years, high school juniors at schools throughout the city of New York participated in a contest to write essays on Nobel Prize work. The three winning students in biology/medicine, chemistry and physics were provided expense-paid tickets to the Nobel ceremony and banquet.

Mr. Rubinstein and The New York Academy of Sciences have been invited to be partners in many international scientific meetings – Lyon’s BioVision, Kyoto’s Science & Technology in Society (STS) Forum, BioVision Alexandria, Eurobio in Paris, the Aspen Global Health Forum, etc. And Mr. Rubinstein was, for 6 years, a member of the World Economic Forum, moderating numerous panels in Davos, Switzerland.

A 1967 magna cum laude graduate in English literature of the University of California, Berkeley, where he also attended graduate school, Mr. Rubinstein taught high school English before entering publishing. He is a Fellow of the AAAS and a member of the IEEE and the National Association of Science Writers. He has served on the American Society of Magazine Editors’ Board of Directors, the Science Advisory Board of Health Canada, and the External Advisory Board of Carnegie Mellon's School of Engineering and Public Policy. And he is currently a Council member of Japan’s Science & Technology in Society Forum. He has honorary degrees in communications from Hallym University in South Korea and in science from the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey.

Contact Us

Ellis Rubinstein

President, The New York Academy of Sciences
212.298.8686
erubinstein@nyas.org