David W. Oxtoby
David William Oxtoby is an American academic who served as the ninth president of Pomona College. He held the position from July 1, 2003 to July 1, 2017. A theoretical chemist, he received his bachelor's degree in chemistry and physics at Harvard University and his Ph.D. in chemistry in 1975 from the University of California, Berkeley. Prior to his appointment at Pomona College, he was the at the University of Chicago.
As a research chemist, Oxtoby is author or co-author of more than 165 scientific articles on subjects such as light scattering, chemical reaction dynamics and phase transitions. He has been invited as a guest lecturer at conferences and institutions around the globe and served as visiting professor at the University of Paris, the University of Bristol, and the University of Sydney. He also co-authored two popular textbooks in chemistry: Principles of Modern Chemistry and Chemistry: Science of Change. He has received fellowships from the Guggenheim, Alexander von Humboldt, Camille and Henry Dreyfus, Alfred P. Sloan, Danforth and National Science foundations.
Theoretical chemist David Tannor, who is the Hermann Mayer Professorial Chair in the Department of Chemical Physics at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel, did his post-doc work with Stuart Rice and David Oxtoby at the University of Chicago.
He is a fellow of the American Physical Society and a member of the American Chemical Society and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. In 2012, he was inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
In February 2016, he announced his intention to step down as president in June, 2017. G. Gabrielle Starr officially succeeded him on July 1, 2017.
In December 2018, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences announced that Oxtoby would serve as its 47th president, succeeding Jonathan Fanton. Oxtoby will begin his term in January 2019.
In 2020 he was elected to the American Philosophical Society.
