April 19, 2004

Dean Of Biological Sciences At UCSD Named One Of
'50 Most Important Hispanics In Technology' For 2004

By Kim McDonald

Eduardo Macagno Photo Credit: UCSD Biological Sciences

Eduardo R. Macagno, Founding Dean of the Division of Biological Sciences at the University of California, San Diego has been named one of the nation’s “50 Most Important Hispanics in Business and Technology” by Hispanic Engineer and Information Technology.

The magazine’s top 50 list for 2004 was selected from hundreds of submissions from among the nation’s highest-achieving Hispanic executives, managers and researchers in industry, government and academe.

“These are women and men who have demonstrated leadership on a broad front, not only in the workplace, but in their communities as well,” the magazine’s editors said in announcing the list, which will be featured in the June/July issue of the publication. The editors added that their selections “are presented to young people as role models, and the honorees’ accomplishments are upheld as examples of the important, often unrecognized contributions made on a daily basis by the thousands of Hispanics in technology-related jobs.”

Others selected for this year’s list include Juan N. Cento, President, FedEx Express Latin America and Caribbean Division; Ralph Alvarez, Chief Operations Officer, McDonald's USA; Thaddeus Arroyo, Chief Information Officer, Cingular Wireless; Antonio M. Perez, President and Chief Operating Officer, Eastman Kodak Company; Paulino Barros, President, BellSouth Latin America; and Hector Ruiz, President and Chief Executive Officer, Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. The honorees will gather for a colloquium and awards dinner on September 17 in Nashville to discuss ways to increase minority entrepreneurship, executive development and educational readiness for the Digital Economy.

Macagno, who emigrated from Argentina with his family in 1956, became a U.S. citizen in 1961. He received his bachelor’s degree in physics in 1963 at the University of Iowa, where he worked with the famed James Van Allen on the early exploration of the Earth’s radiation belts. He began his graduate work in astrophysics at Columbia University, receiving a doctorate in physics in 1968, but became interested in neurobiology as a postdoctoral researcher and switched fields

Hired by Columbia in 1973 as a young faculty member, Macagno quickly rose through the academic ranks, eventually becoming the university’s Associate Vice President for Research and Graduate Education and Dean of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, a position he held from 1993 to 2001. Since his arrival at UCSD in 2001, Macagno has initiated and participated in a number of programs to improve educational opportunities and science learning for San Diego’s Latino youth.

At UCSD, he holds the Richard C. Atkinson Chair in Biology, named after the former UCSD Chancellor and President of the University of California system. He is also co-editor of the Journal of Neurobiology. He is well known for his studies of the mechanisms of growth and development of the nervous system, and still maintains an active research laboratory, supported by the National Institutes of Health, in parallel with his many administrative responsibilities.

Media Contacts:
Kim McDonald, UCSD (858) 534-7572
Vishal Thakkar, Hispanic Engineer, (410) 244-7401 ext. 127