Sloan Foundation Names Academic Veteran as New Leader

The Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, one of the country’s biggest grant makers focusing on science, technology, and economics, has named physicist and veteran college administrator Adam Falk as its new president.

Mr. Falk, who was once awarded a research fellowship by Sloan, has served as president of Williams College in Williamstown, Mass., since 2010, where he was also a professor of physics. Before that, Mr. Falk spent 16 years at Johns Hopkins University, where he served as dean of the school’s faculty, dean of Hopkins’s Krieger School of Arts & Sciences, and a physics professor. He will join the foundation in January.

Mr. Falk said he did not have a “pre-set agenda” for his new job. But it is important, he said, for philanthropy to support areas of social and scientific research that aren’t adequately funded by the government and to encourage a deeper commitment among the public to science’s role in society.

“Philanthropy cannot and should not replace the role the federal government has to continue to play in supporting basic science,” he said.

Mr. Falk will replace Paul Joskow, who announced plans to step down last December. Mr. Joskow, an economist who led the foundation for nearly 10 years, will return to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he served on the faculty for 37 years.

Mr. Joskow pushed Sloan, which has a $1.9 billion endowment, to intensify its support for basic scientific inquiry. He also helped drive the creation of the Science Philanthropy Alliance, an effort by several foundations and nonprofits to generate an additional $1 billion in private support annually for basic science research.

Mr. Falk said in a statement that he was eager to investigate social applications for scientific and economic studies and increase the public influence of scientific research.

“From my graduate studies in physics and the start of my career as a teacher, scientist, and academic leader, I’ve always been committed to research as both a learning endeavor and an engine for social advancement,” Mr. Falk said.

In an interview Friday, Mr. Falk said problems facing the world, including climate change and public-health challenges, “require deep, unflinching scientific inquiry.”

He said he is worried about proposed reductions in federal spending on scientific research and what he called a growing distrust of scientists. An essential role for philanthropy, he said, is to communicate how science furthers human understanding and advocate for a larger voice for researchers in the public sphere.

“I’m a deep believer in research for its own sake,” he said. “An educated, inquisitive citizenry is essential for the prosperity of the nation.”