Chemist may become first woman in Congress with a natural science PhD
Head of the chemistry department at Stony Brook University in New York is locked in a tight race for a seat in the House of Representatives
Nancy Goroff, who taught chemistry at Stony Brook University in New York for 23 years and chaired the school’s chemistry department, might soon become the first woman in Congress with a PhD in the natural sciences. She is running as a Democrat and aims to unseat Republican Lee Zeldin – an attorney – as the representative for New York’s 1st congressional district in the upcoming 3 November election.
At the university, Goroff worked to develop new materials for solar energy. She stepped down as chair of the chemistry department in May 2019, taking an unpaid leave of absence to run for Congress.
Out of the 435 members of the House of Representatives, 145 are lawyers, 183 are businesspeople and 333 are male, and this does not represent the US public, according to Goroff’s campaign. As a female PhD scientist, she hopes to offer a new perspective in Congress that will be valuable as America charts its recovery from the pandemic.