Marcia McNutt, the editor-in-chief of Science, has been selected to stand for election for president of the US National Academy of Sciences. If elected, McNutt would be the first woman to head the more than 150-year-old organization.
In a statement, McNutt says she is "immensely honored" to be asked to stand for election. ScienceInsider notes that under the academy's bylaws, other people may be nominated as presidential candidates, but that has never happened.
McNutt has served as editor-in-chief of the Science group of journals since 2013 — the first woman to hold that spot — and, prior to that, McNutt headed up the US Geological Survey, where she played a role in the government response to the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, ScienceInsider says
McNutt's nomination will go before the NAS members for ratification in December and, if elected, she would take over from current president Ralph Cicerone next July. At that time, McNutt says she would step down from her post at Science.